122 Dr. Schoenbein on the Influence exerted by Electricity, 



auxiliary vectors /3, /3', /3", introduced in the equations (1.) of 

 the 25th article, are evidently, by the principles stated in 

 other recent articles of this paper, the respective lines of inter- 

 section of three pairs of planes, as follows : — The planes of a. a! 

 and a!" « lv intersect in /3; those of a' a" and a lv a v in /3'; and 

 those of a" a'" and a? a. in /3"; and the form (2.), art. 25, of the 

 equation of homoconicism, expresses that these three lines, 

 /3 /3' /3", are coplanar. 7^ i&en a hexahedral angle be inscribed 

 in a cone of the second degree, and if' each of the six plane faces 

 be prolonged (if necessary) so as to meet its opposite in a straight 

 line, the three lines of meeting of opposite faces, thus obtained, 

 will be situated in one common plane : which is a form of the 

 theorem of Pascal. 



[To be continued.] 



XXIII. On the Influence exerted by Electricity, Platinum and 

 Silver upon the Luminosity of Phosphorus. By Dr. C. F. 



SCHCENBEIN*. 



li^OME time ago I tried to show that the shining of phos- 

 hr phorus in atmospheric air is intimately connected with 

 the formation of that highly oxidizing agent I have called 

 ozone. The correctness of that view is confirmed by the fact 

 that phosphorus never becomes luminous if the production of 

 ozone be prevented, or that luminous phosphorus grows dark 

 if the ozone be removed. It is well-known that phosphorus 

 remains dark at low temperatures, and I have ascertained 

 that under these circumstances no ozone is produced; my 

 experiments have further shown that phosphorus still shines 

 in ozonized air at a temperature at which in pure air phos- 

 phorus exhibits not the slightest emission of light. 



According to the results of my former researches, ozone is 

 formed during electrical discharges taking place in atmo- 

 spheric air, the electrolysis of water and the action exerted 

 by phosphorus upon moist mixtures of oxygen and nitrogen, 

 oxygen and hydrogen, oxygen and carbonic acid gas. 



These facts taken together led me to suspect that phos- 

 phorus might become luminous in atmospheric air within 

 which electrical discharges had been effected, at a temperature 

 at which phosphorus does not shine in common air. How 

 far that conjecture is well-founded will appear from the facts 

 I am going to state. 



1. If, at a temperature of 2° to 5° R. below zero, a piece of 

 phosphorus, about an inch long, and having a clean surface, 



* Communicated by the Chemical Society; having been read March 2, 

 1846. 



