8 
ON OZONE. 97 
- to analysis; I am however inclined to think that ozone will turn out to be a 
compound isomerical with peroxide of hydrogen, a conjecture which seems 
to be supported by the fact, that the odoriferous principle acts in so many 
cases the part of chlorine. On that subject however I shall speak hereafter. 
As to the production of ozone, we must, as far as our experiments go, account 
for it in the following manner:—Phosphorus, being placed under certain cir- 
cumstances, enjoys the peculiar faculty to determine a chemical combination 
between oxygen and water. ‘The same compound is produced in a secondary 
way on electrolyzing water ; part of the oxygen, being in a nascent state and 
eliminated at the positive electrode, unites with water, and ozone, being inso- 
luble in the latter liquid, is disengaged along with another part of oxygen 
that does not combine with water. It is possible that gold or platinum 
acting the part of the positive electrode may have something to do with the 
fact, that not the whole quantity of oxygen set free by the action of the cur- 
rent is united with water and transformed into ozone, for it may be that 
ozone being in a peculiar state (for instance, in the fluid state), happens to 
be decomposed by the metals mentioned just in the same way as common 
peroxide of hydrogen is. 
Common electricity passing through atmospheric air acts upon that mix- 
ture like phosphorus, 7. e. determines part of the atmospheric oxygen to unite 
with aqueous vapour to form ozone. 
Before concluding the first part of my report, allow me to say a word or 
two about the well-known phenomenon which phosphorus exhibits when 
placed in moist atmospheric air. At the common temperature, and under 
the circumstances mentioned, that substance gives out in the dark rather a 
lively light, and is changed into a mixture of phosphoric and phosphorous 
acids. In dry atmospheric air scarcely any emission of light takes place, and 
in oxygen none at all. My experiments have invariably shown that no ozone 
is produced if phosphorus does not shine in the dark, and that the emission 
of light is the more lively the more richly common air or any other gaseous 
mixture happens to be charged with ozone. As phosphorus, like all other 
readily oxidizable substances, quickly takes up ozone at the common temper- 
ature, there can be entertained hardly any doubt that the shining of phos- 
phorus which takes place within moist atmospheric air chiefly depends upon 
the reaction exerted by ozone on phosphorus, and that the oxidation of that 
substance is effected less by the free atmospheric oxygen than by the oxy- 
gen contained in ozone. By dint of some peculiar power, phosphorus de- 
termines, first, the formation of ozone out of the oxygen and aqueous 
_yapour of the air; and so soon as this compound is generated, part of it be- 
_ gins to act upon phosphorus, and change the latter into acid, whilst another 
portion of ozone is dissipated into the surrounding air. If the bottle con- 
‘taining common air and a sufficient quantity of phosphorus happen to be 
_ completely closed, the production of ozone and its subsequent decomposition 
_ effected by phosphorus will continue so long as there is free oxygen present 
‘in the air; and we find therefore, after a certain time, in the bottle nothing 
but nitrogen and phosphatic acid. According to this view, the disappear- 
ance of the atmospheric oxygen is not due to the direct oxidation of phos- 
_ phorus, but to the previous formation of ozone determined by that element, 
and to the subsequent decomposition likewise brought about by phosphorus. 
As to the cause of the emission of light alluded to, I am quite confident that 
lies in*the ozonization of phosphorus, if I am allowed to use that expres- 
sion, that is to say, in the oxidation of phosphorus being effected by the 
agency of ozone. 
_ + The correctness of that explanation is put beyond a doubt, by the fact that 
1845. H 
&. 
>. OS 
