io PHENOMENA OF COMBUSTION. PART i. 



organic and inorganic bodies undergo in moist atmo- 

 spheric air; that true oxidation is always preceded by 

 the appearance of the peroxide of hydrogen, and that this 

 compound acts an important part in slow oxidations, 

 and is deeply concerned in animal respiration, and in 

 many other chemical actions going on in nature. 



In confirmation of these views, it is certain that ozone 

 is a powerful minister in the work of decay. If wood 

 be made explosive like gun-cotton by a similar process, 

 it becomes pulverulent after a time, and burns without 

 exploding, though it still retains its shape. In the 

 natural state of the wood the oxygen is passive and 

 quiescent, for oxygen is a constituent of wood ; in its 

 second state it is explosive, and after a time that is 

 succeeded by the semi- active state of ozone, which by a 

 slow imperceptible combustion causes the wood to decay. 

 Mr. Faraday observes that the force which would have 

 been explosive had it been concentrated into one effort, 

 expends itself in a long continued progressive change. 



' The majestic phenomena of combustion bespeak our 

 admiration and rivet our attention because of their im- 

 posing grandeur ; yet these are but spasmodic efforts in 

 the grand economy of the material world, occurrences of 

 now and then. The slower but continuous progress of 

 the elements to their appointed resting-place, the silent, 

 tranquil, ever progressing metamorphic changes involved 

 in the phenomena of decomposition and decay, these we 

 count for nothing and pass unheeded by. Yet with all 

 their majesty, with all their brilliancy, all their develop- 

 ment "of tremendous energy, what are the phenomena of 

 combustion in the grand scheme of the universe com- 

 pared with these ? When the loud crash of the thunder 

 or the lightning's flash awakens us from our thoughtless 

 abstractions or our reveries, our feelings become im- 

 pressed with the grandeur of Omnipotence and the 

 might of the elements he wields, yet the whole fury of 



