256 THE CHEMISTRY OF CREATION. 



of supplying this gas to various bodies, and so 

 acting a highly essential part in nature as an 

 oxidizing agent. Perhaps we may point to a 

 homely application of its bleaching properties, 

 in the linen which may be seen spread out on 

 many a grassy field and way-side hedge to 

 whiten. Formerly all our calicos were taken to 

 the green plains of Holland, in the spring, there 

 spread out, and allowed to lie until whitened ; 

 the goods were then sent home in the autumn.* 

 It is certain that the chemical rays of the sun 

 have a bleaching effect ; but it may be reason- 

 ably supposed, that, as ozone is also a powerful 

 bleaching agent, its elimination at night by 

 plants may help forward, possibly, to u large 

 extent, this process. 



Some connexion between the presence of 

 ozone in the air and the existence of epidemic 

 diseases, such as the influenza, cholera, &c., 

 has lately been imagined. In a recent com- 

 munication to the Athenaeum paper, Mr. R. 

 Hunt has propounded a view of this connexion 

 which deserves our consideration. He writes 

 as follows : " Ozone is constantly produced 

 in the atmosphere, under every circumstance, 

 which determines either electrical or chemical 



* In two or three days, at a Lancashire bleachwork, as 

 much linen is bleached as would carpet a large field all over. 

 This is effected by the chemistry of art. 



