300 OZONE. 



acquainted with this body sufficiently to speculate on its 

 uses in nature : without doubt, they are important, 

 perhaps second to those of water only. It is probable, 

 as we have already had occasion to remark, that ozone 

 may be the active agent in removing from the atmos- 

 phere those organic poisons to which many forms of 

 pestilence are traceable ; and it is a curious fact, that a 

 low electrical intensity, and a consequent deficiency of 

 atmospheric ozone, marks the prevalence of cholera, and 

 an excess distinguishes the reign of influenza.* 



Some interesting researches appear to show the pro- 

 bability that ozone is simply oxygen in a state of high 

 activity. It has been found, indeed, that perfectly dry 

 oxygen, which will not bleach vegetable colours in the 

 dark, acquires, by exposure to sunshine, the power of 

 destroying them. Becquerel has proved that this 

 ozonous state may be produced in dry oxygen by pass- 

 ing a succession of electric sparks through it. Fremy 

 passed the electric sparks on the outside of a tube which 

 contained perfectly dry oxygen, and it was found to 

 have acquired the properties of ozone. In this case, and 

 probably in the experiments of Becquerel, the light of 

 the spark, rather than the electricity, appears to have 

 been the active agent in producing this change. Schon- 

 bein himself does not appear disposed to regard ozone 

 as being either per-oxide of hydrogen, or an allotro- 

 pic oxygen. He leans to his first view of its being an 

 entirely new chemical element. The energy of this 

 ozone is so great, that it has been found to destroy 

 almost instantaneously the Indian-rubber union joints 

 of the apparatus in which it is formed. f 



* See several papers On Ozone, by Professor Schonbein, in the 

 Philosophical Magazine, and in the Reports of the British 

 Association. Consult a paper by the Author: Athenaum, Sep- 

 tember, 1849. 



f Memoire sur I'Ozone ; Bale 1849. PoggendorfFs Annalen, 

 Ixxvii., p. 592. Ibid. Ixxviii. p. 162. 



