544 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



have therefore thought that it was important to submit these plue- 

 nomena to new experiments. 



We will confine ourselves here to reproducing some of the facts 

 mentioned in the memoir which we have the honour to present to 

 the Academy. 



1 . After going over all the experiments made on ozone, mention- 

 ing in particular the important researches of Schb'nbein, Marignac 

 and De la Rive, we have examined, first the oxidizing properties of the 

 oxygen procured by the decomposition of water by the galvanic pile ; 

 the result of these researches is that the pile cannot be employed to 

 determine the nature of ozone, because the active principle is found 

 only in very small proportion in the oxygen of the pile. We have 

 therefore been obliged to study successively all the methods which 

 can be employed to electrify oxygen. 



2. The arc which is formed upon the interruption of the voltaic 

 circuit does not appear to modify the oxygen in the same manner as 

 the ordinary spark, because the elevation of temperature which 

 accompanies it probably destroys that which the electricity might 

 produce ; but according to our observations, this arc may determine 

 the combination of gases amongst themselves, acting thus as spongy 

 platinum and as electricity ; under its influence we have combined 

 nitrogen and oxygen directly, to form nitric acid, nitrogen and 

 hydrogen to produce ammonia, and sulphurous acid and oxygen to 

 form anhydrous sulphuric acid. 



3. The spark proceeding from currents of induction, and produced 

 by means of the ingenious apparatus lately constructed by M. 

 Ruhmkorff, acts like the spark of the ordinary machines, and has 

 enabled us to repeat, without fatigue, all the experiments made with 

 the machine. 



4. Pure oxygen, enclosed in glass tubes together with a band 

 of starched and iodized paper, was electrified by means of a series 

 of sparks striking the outer surface of the tube ; the paper began 

 to become blue after the passage of a few sparks. This coloriza- 

 tion depends on the electrization of the oxygen, and not on the de- 

 composition of the iodide ; for no effect takes place when the iodide 

 is placed in hydrogen and operated on. This fact is so much the 

 more remarkable, as the oxygen is electrified without the interven- 

 tion of metallic wires, and consequently without the presence of 

 particles transported by the electric spark. 



5. Oxygen, prepared by the most different modes, such as the 

 calcination of the oxides of manganese, mercury or silver, by the de- 

 composition of chlorate of potash, or of water by means of the pile, 

 acquires a very distinct odour, and strongly marked oxidizing pro- 

 perties when it is subjected to the influence of electricity ; these 

 properties are manifested by oxygen as pure as it is possible to ob- 

 tain it. The oxygen thus electrified loses its oxidizing properties 

 when exposed to iodide of potassium, but it regains its odour and 

 chemical activity when again electrified ; this experiment maybe re- 

 peated indefinitely on the same gas. 



All these facts show that the oxidizing power of electrified oxygen 

 is not due to the presence of a foreign body contained in the gas ; 



