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Miscellanies. 197 
ter. In the more recent researches referred to, he has succeeded in libe- 
rating ozone by purely chemical processes—it being disengaged when 
phosphorus is placed at the ordinary temperature in the atmosphere, or 
other mixture of oxygen and nitrogen. Itis also formed when a mixture 
of peroxide of manganese, or peroxide of lead, sulphuric acid and nitro- 
gen, are exposed to heat. These facts would lead to the belief that nitro- 
gen is a compound of ozone and hydrogen. If this be the case, some 
suppose that it will create a considerable change in that portion of chem- 
istry relating to nitrogenous compounds; but there is no necessity why 
this should happen, for we might with perfect propriety consider it a com- 
pound radical without either changing its name or the formule of its 
compounds. If this conclusion is true as regards the compound nature 
of nitrogen, it will no doubt lead to important results in meteorology. 
The author has obtained a body which he considers pure ozonide of 
‘potassium; it is a white powder, almost tasteless, scarcely soluble in wa- 
ter, easily decomposed by sulphuric acid, with the liberation of ozone. 
It appears that ozone forms compounds very different from those of 
chlorine, bromine, &c.; for the compound of hydrogen and ozone (nitro- 
gen) bears no resemblance to hydrochloric acid, and the ozonide of po- 
tassium little or none to chloride of potassium. With respect to its chem- 
ical affinity, it is placed between bromine and iodine,—it not acting on 
the bromide of potassium, but decomposing the iodide. 
Some facts connected with the History of Phosphorus, by A. Dupas- 
auier, (Compt. Rend. Aug. 1844, p. 362.)—Phosphorus as it ordinarily 
comes under our observation, presents different shades of color, which 
difference has been attributed to some modification in its molecular ar- 
rangement. ‘This is shown not to be the case, but that phosphorus in a 
state of perfect purity remains colorless and transparent, when not ex- 
posed to the solar light. The author has found that the color is due to 
the presence of arsenic, arising from impure sulphuric acid—that acid 
prepared from the sulphar obtained from pyrites. When the bone earth 
is treated with pure sulphuric acid, a colorless phosphorus is always ob- 
tained. The arsenic combines with the phosphorus, forming the phos- 
phuret of arsenic, which is black, and the smallest quantity suffices to 
color the phosphorus with which it is associated. When the arsenic is 
in sufficient quantity to communicate a greenish yellow color, it renders 
the phosphorus brittle. | Phosphorus containing a very minute quantity of 
phosphuret of arsenic may appear colorless, but this when preserved in 
water will become colored even in obscurity ; this appears to depend upon 
the formation of a little arsenious acid from the action of the oxygen of 
the air contained in the water upon the phosphuret of arsenic, and the 
subsequent decomposition of this acid by the phosphorus,—there being 
formed a precipitate of the metal which fixes itself to the surface and 
colors it in proportion to the quantity. The manner of ascertaining the 
