72 LETTEES OF BEKZELIUS 



instance, takes such an endless time to absorb ozone, 

 set free by phosphorus, that I can hardly believe it 

 will ever be employed as a means of separating it. 

 At all events the fact is, that there is no material 

 which is able to take up ozone more rapidly than 

 potassium iodide. I willingly admit that you are quite 

 right in blaming me for indulging in my paper in too 

 much speculation about ozone ; I will not attempt to 

 justify this offence even by saying that it is never so 

 often committed as in chemistry, as has been amply 

 shown in recent times. I am sure that you will 

 readily grant that the circumstances under which 

 ozone is produced inevitably lead one to think of the 

 possibility of nitrogen being a compound. However 

 baseless my hypothesis as to the nature of this body 

 may be, it has guided me in all the experiments I 

 have hitherto made, and has led me to a series of 

 discoveries. Whatever ozone may prove to be, this 

 much seems to me to be certain, from its voltaic and 

 chemical properties, that it is not a hydrogen com- 

 pound or at least not a hydracid. 



As soon as I am quite well again I shall continue 

 my experiments on ozone with renewed zeal ; but I 

 have for some time been condemned to inaction in 

 consequence of a cold which I have no doubt that I 

 caught through breathing too much of the gases 

 produced by the slow combustion of ether 

 vapour. 



I have for a long time been very anxious to visit 

 your beautiful country, and as soon as I am able to 

 carry out my project I shall lose no time in doing so ; 



