24 Transactions of the Kansas 



tion of this very interesting question, which eminent medical authorities in East- 

 ern States have considered well worth their attention and study. Until an abun- 

 dance of such data shall accumulate, any attempt at discussion of the relations 

 of ozone to health and disease, will prove, from necessity, fruitless and unsatis- 

 factory. There are not wanting, to be sure, persons whose opinions upon this 

 question are very positive and very emphatically expressed — as those of the super- 

 ficiallj' minded usually are. Such may be readily classified under two heads. First, 

 those who look upon ozone as nature's great specific — the universal cure for all ills 

 to which frail human flesh is heir. Second, those, who after a slight and trivial 

 examination of the subject, have failed to arrive at any conclusions satisfactory 

 to themselves, and hence ridicule the suspected relations of ozone to health and 

 disease, as visionary hallucinations. The testimony of both these classes of 

 "thinkers," is of about equal worth. The arguments of both smack strongly 

 of "personal conviction;" their conclusions are wholly without any foundation in 

 fact, and hence are utterly and completely valueless. What is wanted to-day, 

 above all things else, is calm, unprejudiced, unimpassioned observation and study 

 of accumulated facts. Our present knowledge of the relations of ozone to the 

 laws of health, is, at best, of very general nature only. We know that whileozone 

 is a constant and normal ingredient of pure air, that the amount present at any 

 one time is always very minute — never over one part in 450,000 by weight. On 

 the other hand, ozone can not exist in foul air, laden with organic effluvia, and 

 there are many observations which have shown either its entire absence or pres- 

 ence in very minute quantity during the prevalence of certain types of epidemics, 

 though its relations to zymotic diseases is by no means yet clearly established. 

 Ozone is also a most vigorous disinfectant; and one of the most simple and beau- 

 tiful methods recommended of purifying the air of a sick room, is by use of the 

 well-known flameless or " aphlogistic " lamp, which in its slow combustion, con- 

 tinuously generates a small supply of ozone. This lamp is easily constructed, by 

 placing a small piece of platinum sponge, (jr a small coil of fine platinum wire even, 

 upon the wick of a common alcohol lamp, partially surrounding it with the fibers 

 of the wick ; lighting the lamp and then cautiously blowing it out, when the 

 metallic mass will continue glowing at a red heat for several hours from the slow 

 combustion of the alcohol, in which process a minute quantity of ozone is liber- 

 ated. On the other hand, it is well known that air containing an excess of ozone 

 can not be respired, and is fatal to animal life. When present in much greater 

 than average quantit}- in our atmosphere, ozone almost invariably produces violent 

 bronchial and catarrhal troubles among persons susceptible to these difficulties. 

 This coincidence I have noticed repeatedly in this State. In an exceedingly inter- 

 esting address delivered in 1875, by the President of the State Medical Society of 

 Michigan, some very interesting experiments are given, tending to prove that sun- 

 light itself, acting on oi-ganic matter in the presence of free oxygen, is a powerful 

 generator of ozone. Slips of iodized paper were exposed to bright sunlight in jars 

 of carbonic acid, hydrogen and nitrogen gases for days, without undergoing the 

 slightest coloration. The same result was obtained when a slip was exposed in 

 the same manner between tightly sealed plates of glass. But when the glass was 

 cracked, to allow the access of atmospheric oxygen in the presence of sunlight, 

 the paper slip became perceptibly colored in a few hours. Thus is suggested a 

 very interesting explanation of the well-known importance of the access of an 

 abundance of bright sunshine, for pure air and good health within our homes. 

 All these fragmentary facts show what a fascinating field for study and investiga- 

 tion lies within our easy reach ; and when we add to all this the peculiar import- 



