Transactions of the Kansas 



deposit which is notliing else than silver oxide. On heating this black deposit pure 

 oxygen gas will be again given off. The views of Schonbein as to the nature of 

 Ozone are not at the present day generally accepted. He looked upon oxygen as 

 an electrically neutral body made up of an electro-positive and an electro-negative 

 atom. Its condition then pictured itself to his mindasO-l- 0-, standing side by 

 side. By the action of the electric current he considered its particles to become so 

 altered in their mutual positions as to produce two distinct bodies : First, Ozone, 

 represented O- O-l- 0-; second, Antozone, represented O-i- O- + . 



This view is now, however, wholly abandoned. As to the existence of Antozone 

 it is here entirely unnecessary to speak. It is now looked upon by the general itj- 

 of chemists as probably nothing else than the per- oxide of hydrogen. Ozone itself 

 is now regarded by leading authorities as merely condensed oxygen, with a densit}- 

 of one and a half times that of oxj^gen. Hence if we represent a working particle 

 of oxygen by O3, that of Ozone would be O3. We would thus give it the equivalent 

 48. For the purposes of experiment we can i^roduce Ozone by a great varietj^ of 

 methods : By a slow oxidation of phosphorous in a moist and confined atmosphere ; 

 by the decomposition of the vapor of sulphuric ether by the agency of a glass rod 

 heated to temperature of 250° F. ; or in large quantities bj^ the decomposition of the 

 permanganate of potassium by sulphuric acid. As evolved by all these methods it 

 exhibits its remarkable properties: A colorless gas of a powerful, pungent odor 

 (whence its name, which signifies "odor producer;") exerting a peculiar irritating 

 effect upon the mucous membrane of the throat and lungs; and with the oxidizing 

 characteristics of ordinary oxygen much intensified. It will attack metals and 

 decompose binary salts which it is entirely beyond the power of ordinary ox3-geu 

 to touch. 



Thus much and briefly as to the nature of this remarkable body. Next as to its 

 existence in our atmosphere. This is found by careful experiment to be all but 

 universal, but varying immensely in degree and intensity as determined by sur- 

 rounding circumstances, particularly the presence or absence of decomposing 

 organic matter. The natural processes which produce Ozone in our atmosphere 

 are most numerous and varied. Its production by atmospheric electricity has 

 already been mentioned, and although the results from this cause are. most startling 

 it is not probable that its effects are at all proportionate to that of the numberless 

 silent producers of atmospheric Ozone. Indeed it seems very probable that there is 

 no process in nature in Avhicli oxygen is either absorbed or liberated in which there 

 is not a proportionate quantitj^ of Ozone evolved. Meissner has plainlj- proved that 

 not only in rapid process of combustion, but in the slow processes of decay, a cer- 

 tain quantity of Ozone is produced, the greater portion, of course, instantlj^ disap- 

 pearing when brought in contact with the decomposing matter, but still a recog- 

 nizable portion escaping undestroyed into the general atmosphere. The mere pro- 

 cess of evaporation from large bodies of water is also a most powerful contributor 

 of Ozone to the atmosphere. But above all these, the latest researches in this fasci- 

 nating field have indicated a third possible and more powerful source still: the 

 process of vegetable growth. We know that the processes of vegetable nutrition 

 depend primarilj- upon the fixation of carbon, that is, the absorption of carbonic 

 acid from, and the return of oxygen to, the atmosphere. Now Daubeny has proved 

 by careful exjieriment upon a slow current of air passing over a living plant that 

 the liberated oxygen thus produced was accompanied by indications of Ozone. No 

 matter how minute the amount thus produced, when we consider the enormous 

 extent to which this operation is everywhere in progress, we must look upon it as a 



