228 OZONE. 



Soret as well as other eminent men that have lent their 

 aid to our present knowledge, which enables us to state 

 that ozone is a condensed or allotropic form of oxygen, 

 and they are mutually convertable the one into the other 

 without the production of any other body. 



Ozone is active as a disinfectant or deodorizer remov- 

 insT all noxious odors ; but it is also an active oxidizer of 

 metals. Silver or even gold is tarnished by it. To show 

 its purifying power I will detail one experiment which 

 any person can repeat at will. I know of but one sub- 

 stance more offensive than putrid flesh, and that is putrid 

 blood. Yet blood may l)c exposed to the atmosphere 

 until quite putrid, and the clot softened then put in a bot- 

 tle where after some time the clot will dissolve as a result 

 of alkaline decomposition. In this state you cannot im- 

 agine a more offensive fluid ; yet l)y passing a current of 

 ozone through it or even over it, the bad smell will all 

 pass away or be neutralized rather ; and the mass will 

 become quite sweet. From this you can see that ozone 

 is an active agent that under the directing power of man 

 may accomplish much. 



How large a part it plays in the production of edible 

 products from old bones, and other nauseous substances, 

 I do not pretend to know. As ozone is not a natural 

 condition of oxygen of course its production concerns us, 

 and how it is produced in nature ; and how it may be 

 produced so as to be of use to the physician, chemist or 

 manufacturer is of great importance. In nature the oxi- 

 dation of metals, the decomposition of rocks, the germi- 

 nation of seeds, the growth of plants, especially the at- 

 mospheric algEe, the falling of rain, hail, or snow, the 

 evaporation of saline fluids, the dashing of the waves of 

 the ocean on the coast currents, in the atmosphere clouds 

 and many other of the phenomena of nature, are all con- 



