80 LETTEES OF BEEZELIUS 



from the fact that the so-called phosphoric acid, 

 produced by the phosphorus in moist air, always 

 contains nitric acid. I shall soon publish in 

 Poggendorff's Annalen some more details on this 

 not uninteresting subject. You may possibly be 

 interested to have a little sample of the bleaching 

 action of ozone, and so I have taken the liberty of 

 enclosing two strips 1 of linen, one of which has been 

 hung for about a fortnight in air which has been 

 ozonized by means of phosphorus. The second is 

 a sample of the unbleached stuff. I must add that 

 the bleaching of the white strip was accomplished 

 solely by means of ozonized air. 



I am still wholly unable to understand how they 

 can have found in the Giessen laboratory that by 

 the action of phosphorus on moist air no substance 

 is produced which bleaches, decomposes potassium 

 iodide, and in other ways shows itself a strong 

 oxidizing agent. I confess that the experiments 

 have been performed there in a way which could not 

 lead to any but negative results. 



We had almost persuaded ourselves here that on 

 the occasion of your recent visit to Germany we 

 should have the pleasure of seeing you in our house, 

 and we had made preliminary arrangements to do 

 you honour; but unfortunately these hopes, which 

 were based on the statement of a man from Berlin, 

 have not been realized. 



Indulging in the pleasant expectation of soon 



1 Both strips are still enclosed in the letter. 



