60 Dr. M. Baumert on a new Oxide of Hydrogen 



by the supposition that the dried gas still contained traces of 

 moisture. But if, on the other hand, it be proved that the 

 odorous substance produced by the electric spark results from 

 its action in an atmosphere perfectly free from watery vapour, — 

 that by an excessive, although instantaneous elevation of tem- 

 perature, such as is produced by the electric spark, oxygen passes 

 into an allotropic state, characterized by an increased capacity 

 of combination, this would establish an extremely simple relation 

 between it and the ozone, which has just been shown to be a 

 superoxide of hydrogen. The latter would then be nothing else 

 than water oxidized at the expense of the allotropic oxygen, and 

 would therefore always be produced wherever thi3 allotropic 

 oxygen comes in contact with water at a low temperature ; so 

 that the allotropic oxygen is even indebted to this formation of 

 ozone for its odour. The decision of this question lay therefore 

 in the direction of the proof that oxygen through which the 

 electric spark had passed really possessed a capacity of combina- 

 tion, during the complete exclusion of water, sufficiently great 

 even at ordinary temperatures to overcome the strongest affinities, 

 such as those of chlorine and iodine for potassium. It was con- 

 sequently above all things necessary to determine how far the 

 vapour of water may be removed from an atmosphere of oxygen. 

 The simplest and most certain means of arriving at this was pre- 

 sented by the above determination of the constitution of ozone, 

 and the reaction produced by a film of phosphoric acid. For 

 this purpose, a long, narrow glass tube was covered with a filmy 

 coating of anhydrous phosphoric acid, in the manner described 

 in the commencement of this paper. When a gas containing 

 only traces of watery vapour passes through this tube, the film 

 disappears in the direction of the stream of gas, in consequence 

 of the white microscopic particles of the phosphoric acid be- 

 coming transparent by their combination with water. It may 

 be proved that in this manner even a few ten-thousandths of a 

 milligramme of watery vapour may be rendered visible. From 

 experiments already described, it appears that ozone is split into 

 water and oxygen by a moderate elevation of temperature, and 

 that the water separated by this decomposition from a cubic 

 centimetre of electrolytic oxygen gas, may be distinctly shown 

 by this means, although it scarcely amounts to ^^ milligrm. 



In order to obtain a considerable quantity of the matter to 

 be examined, it was necessary to employ a very powerful source 

 of electricity for the production of a stream of sparks. For this 

 purpose I employed an excellent induction spiral of Halske and 

 Siemens, which furnished induced currents of such power that 

 sparks of nearly a line in length were formed at the ends of the 

 unconnected secondary wires during the interruption of the 



