42 LETTEES OF BEKZELIUS 



drop, and I also shall not fail, whenever I have a con- 

 venient opportunity, to remind him of it. I regret to 

 say, however, that the Prince has taken all the documents 

 and also your note to Berzelius along with him." 



Schonbein had in fact enclosed, as a recommendation, 

 Berzelius' letter to him on the discovery of ozone. Prince 

 Maximilian never returned it, but Schonbein had prudently 

 retained a copy. 



VIII 

 Berzelius to Schonbein 1 



STOCKHOLM, 3rd November 1840. 



DEAK SIR, 



I thank you sincerely for your paper on ozone, 

 and the courteous letter which accompanied it. I 

 read it with great interest, and consider it highly 

 probable, as you suggest, that natural waters con- 

 tain, though in very minute quantities, some volatile 

 matter, composed possibly of hydrogen and ozone. 

 The building up of this body in some conclusive 

 manner would be one of the most brilliant chemical 

 discoveries ever achieved by science. I need hardly 

 urge you not to let the matter drop before you are 

 successful, however great an exertion be required. It 

 is quite probable that water is always accompanied 

 by this compound in nature, for we know that common 

 salt never occurs in nature without traces of sodium 

 iodide or sodium bromide. 



1 This letter is mentioned in Hagenbach's obituary notice of 

 Schonbein. [Basel Universitats-Programm, 1868.] 



