AND SCHONBEIN 79 



led to his new view as to the nature of ozone by Marignac, 

 but only confirmed in it by the simultaneous work of the 

 latter. 1 



XVI 

 Schonbein to Berzelius 



MY DEAR BARON, 



I take the liberty of sending you, by favour 

 of Herr von Mitscherlich, two papers which I have 

 just published on ozone and kindred subjects. I 

 hope you will receive them with indulgence, as a 

 slight mark of my unbounded esteem. 



I have for some time been busy with experiments 

 on the formation of nitric acid, and I have been 

 successful in discovering some facts which appear 

 to me to throw a certain amount of light on this 

 subject, which has hitherto been very imperfectly 

 understood. I have come to the conclusion that the 

 production of nitric acid is closely connected with 

 the action of ozone ; it seems that the latter, under 

 some conditions, can oxidize nitrogen to nitric acid. 

 This much is certain, that nitric acid is formed in 

 the production of ozone in atmospheric air by the 

 chemical method (by the means of phosphorus), just 

 as it is by passing electric sparks through a moist 

 mixture of oxygen and nitrogen. This is evident 



1 Cf. Engler, " Historisch-Kritische Studie iiber das Ozon " 

 (reprint from the Leopoldina\ Halle (1879), p. 8. 



