96 REPORT—1845. 
ozone. In that inquiry I found that the presence of water is quite indispen- 
sable for engendering ozone, and that it is the more abundantly produced the 
larger the quantity of water which is put into contact both with phosphorus 
and common air. I likewise ascertained that no ozone is formed by phos- 
phorus if free oxygen be excluded. Nitrogen may be replaced by carbonic 
acid or hydrogen without stopping the generation of ozone. Hence it fol- 
lows that nitrogen has directly nothing to do with the production of ozone, 
and that the latter cannot be a constituent part of azote. From the fact 
that dry ozone passing along a heated tube is found to be destroyed, we must 
also infer that it is no elementary principle. 
Now, taking together all the facts regarding both the circumstances under 
which ozone is formed and the chemical effects produced by that substance, 
we can hardly help admitting that the odoriferous principle is a compound 
consisting of oxygen and water. The experiments made independently of 
myself by my friend, the excellent and accurate chemist of Geneva, M. Ma- 
rignac, and by M. de la Rive also, have led to results quite in accordance 
with the view I originally took of the nature of ozone. Marignac and De la 
Rive have ascertained that acidulated water, containing not the slightest trace 
either of free nitrogen or azotic matter, yields ozone as long as a voltaic 
current is made to pass through that liquid, provided however it be kept as 
cold as possible. M.Marignac has also found that mixtures of oxygen and hy- 
drogen, or oxygen and carbonic acid gas, charged with aqueous vapour, pro- 
duce ozone as well as a moist mixture of oxygen and azote. That able chemist 
has further ascertained that silver in a state of minute mechanical division 
readily takes up ozone, yielding nothing but a compound of'silver and oxy- 
gen. Agreeably to my own experiments, M. Marignac has shown that ozone 
transforms iodide of potassium into iodate of potash. 
Now these facts, combined with those ascertained by myself, seem to leave 
hardly any doubt about the nature of ozone, and confirm the view I took of it 
Six years ago. 
Thenard has made us acquainted with a compound consisting of one equi- 
valent of water and one of oxygen. The question now is, whether the known 
peroxide of hydrogen be identical with my ozone. According to Thenard’s 
own statements, peroxide of hydrogen has no odour, is soluble in water in 
any proportion, is less volatile than the latter, in decomposing itself it de- 
composes oxide of silver, reduces the peroxide of lead to a lower degree of 
oxidation, is not affected by iron, tin, or antimony, does not oxidize silver, but 
is decomposed by that metal, undergoes a spontaneous slow decomposition 
at the common temperature, and cannot exist at the boiling-point of water. 
The experiments of Becquerel and my own have shown that platinum, on 
being plunged into dilute oxygenized water, assumes the state of positive po- 
larity. On the other hand, ozone has a strong and peculiar odour, is insolu- 
ble in water, exists, as far as we know, always in a gaseous state, readily oxi- 
dizes iron, tin, antimony, and even silver at the common temperature, changes 
the hydrates of the protoxides of lead and silver into the peroxides of those 
metals, seems not to be acted upon at all by gold or platinum, or the per- 
oxides of lead and silver, and can bear a temperature considerably higher than 
that of boiling water without suffering decomposition; it seems to be stable 
at the common temperature, is decomposed not only by fibrine, but also by 
albumen, caseine and a variety of organic substances, and polarizes nega- 
tively gold or platinum. Now these facts seem to prove that ozone is dif- 
ferent from peroxide of hydrogen. Whether the former contains more or 
less oxygen than the latter, or whether it is an isomeric modification of oxy- 
genized water, can only be ascertained after having submitted isolated ozone 
