384 Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



BY W. B. TEGETMEIER. 



BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF 



SCIENCE. 



Dr. Moffat read a very interesting paper " On the Luminosity of 

 Phosphorus. " If a piece of phosphorus he put under a hell-glass 

 it will be found at times luminous, and at others non-luminous. 

 When it is luminous, a stream of vapour rises from it, which some- 

 times terminates in an inverted cone of rings similar to those given 

 off during the spontaneous combustion of phosphoretted hydrogen ; 

 and at others it forms a beautiful curve, with a descending limb 

 ■equal in length to the ascending one. The vapour is attracted by a 

 magnet and by heat, but it is repelled by cold. It renders steel 

 needles magnetic, and it is perceived only when the phosphorus is 

 luminous. Daily observations of the phosphorus for a period of 

 eighteen months, show that the periods of luminosity or non-lumi- 

 nosity occur under opposite conditions of the atmosphere ; the for- 

 mer being peculiar to the equatorial, while the latter to the polar 

 current. By the catalytic action of phosphorus on atmospheric air, 

 a gaseous body (superoxide of hydrogen) is formed, which is analo- 

 gous to, or identical with, atmospheric ozone. The author has found 

 that phosphoric ozone is developed only when the phosphorus is 

 luminous, and that atmospheric ozone is produced only under these 

 atmospheric conditions in which phosphorus is luminous. From 

 observations extending over several years, it appears that 99 per 

 cent, of luminous periods and 91 per cent, of ozone periods, 

 commence with decreasing readings of the barometer and other 

 conditions of the equatorial current ; and that 94 per cent, and 

 66 per cent, terminate with increasing readings and the con- 

 ditions of the polar current. Luminous periods commence and 

 luminosity increases in brilliancy on the approach of storms and 

 gales, and ozone periods commence and increase in quantity under 

 similar conditions. There is, it would appear also from these 

 observations, an intimate connection between the approach of storms, 

 the commencement of luminous and ozone periods, and disorders of 

 the nervous, muscular, and vascular systems. The author gave the 

 dates of many storms and gales, and the occurrence of diseases of 

 the above class, showing their coincidence ; and in corroboration of 

 what he had stated, he mentioned the fact that there was a concur- 

 rence in the issuing of Admiral FitzRoy's cautionary telegrams and 

 these diseases. He also stated that he views the part performed by 

 ozone in the atmosphere as being similar to that performed by pro- 

 tein in the blood ; the latter giving oxygen for the disorganization of 

 worn-out tissues in the animal economy- — the former giving oxygen 

 to the products of decomposition and putrefaction, and rendering 

 them innocuous or salutary compounds. With these views the 



