410 On Ozone, 



ozone. The influence of vegetation on its amount, whatever it 

 may be during the spring and summer months, becomes sealed 

 up in the icy bonds of winter. Returning spring, with its humid 

 atmosphere, again affords ample means for the prosecution of the 

 subject. 



The influence of winds on the amount of ozone depends upon the 

 quarter from wlrich they come. Easterly and southerly winds may 

 be called ozonic winds ; while westerly and northerly winds barely 

 indicate a trace. Rain and snow generally indicate a large 

 amount. A north-easterly land-wind does not generally indicate 

 ozone; and whenever there is ozone present during a north-east 

 wind, it may be attributed to the sea-breeze passing over the 

 land ; for we have often a dry N.E. wind with a high barometer 

 for some days, and no indication of ozone. 



Its effects on animals and on the health of man require a system 

 of registration, especially in the latter case, so as to present a com- 

 parative scale of disease and death in connection with the amount 

 of ozone presented. During the last visitation of cholera, there was 

 certainly a diminution in the amount ; but at the same time 

 there was a diminished amount of humidity. Its highly delete- 

 rious effects on the lower classes of animals are well ascertained, 

 and have been turned to advantage in its poisonous properties, 

 when produced by the slow combustion of phosphorus. 



As a therapeutic agent, it can scarcely be said to have been 

 administered. Oil of turpentine exposed to light, has acquired a 

 pungent taste like peppermint, owing to the formation of ozone, 

 and has proved poisonous when given to small animals ; it 

 has been advised as a local application in rheumatism, and inter- 

 nally in chronic discharges from the mucous membranes in Man. 



It is purposed still to prosecute the investigation of the effects of 

 vegetation on the amount of Ozone, and also the effects due to the 

 germination of plants. While the whole of the European continent 

 is studded with observers, we are led to believe that little attention 

 is paid to its investigation on this continent. A constant systematic 

 form of observation is necessary ; and it is to be hoped that but 

 a few more years will pass before it takes its proper place in the 

 annals of true science, and becomes alike interesting to the 

 chemist, the physician, and the meteorologist. 



St. Martin, Isle Jesus, Nov. 16, 1859. 



