460 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The Nature of Ozone and Antozone. — The result of this quarter 

 t>f a century of research is the present conclusion that ozone is con- 

 densed allotropic oxygen. 1 In regard to antozone there is much dif- 

 ference of opinion among scientists. There are those who declare 

 that it is a myth. The original hypothesis has recently been losing 

 its hold on the scientific mind, and further researches are necessary to 

 determine what it is and what it is not. The present opinion of the 

 German philosophers is, that antozone is the peroxide of hydrogen 

 diffused through the air. 



Preparation of Ozone. — Ozone is prepared in various ways — by 

 passing electric sparks, or electricity without sparks, through oxy- 

 gen or air, by the electrolysis of acidulated water, by oxidizing 

 phosphorus in moist air, by the action of strong sulphuric acid (three 

 parts) on permanganate of potash (two parts), by sending water in 

 the form of spray through air, by introducing hot glass rods into ves- 

 sels filled with the vapor of ether, and by the slow oxidation of ethers 

 and oils, etc., when exposed to light. 



Properties of Ozone. — Ozone is a colorless gas, with a powerful and 

 peculiar odor. Like oxygen, it is an oxidizing agent of great power. 

 It changes indigo into isatin, the black sulphate of lead into the white 

 sulphate of lead. It oxidizes antimony, manganese, arsenic, iron, 

 zinc, tin, silver, lead, bismuth, and mercury. Many of the lower 

 oxides it transforms into peroxides. It corrodes India-rubber and de- 

 colorizes blue litmus-paper. It acts with great rapidity on iodide of 

 potassium, liberating the iodine. It quickly consumes ammonia, chan- 

 ging it into nitrate. It decomposes hydrochloric acid, liberating the 

 chlorine. It is insoluble in acids, alkalies, alcohol, ether, the essential 

 oils, and water. The odor of ozone is very penetrating ; air contain- 

 ing but one millionth of it is said to be perceptible to the olfactories. 

 The peculiar odor of sea-air is in part the result of ozone. All air, 

 even the purest, has more or less ozone ; but so accustomed do we 

 become to it that it is only by sudden change into it that we perceive 

 it. Visitors at the Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, report that, on emerg- 

 ing, the air has a peculiar and vivid odor such as they never before 

 realized. That we can in a half-hour become so used to the foul air 

 of a closed room that we do not perceive its odor until we leave it for 

 a few moments and then return to it, is the experience of every one. 

 The peculiar odor of ozone can be obtained very easily indeed by 

 touching a metallic electrode of a galvanic battery of a number of 

 cells against one of the plates of the batteries so as to make a con- 

 nection of the current, or by touching the metallic ends of the poles 

 for a moment with the spark thus produced. 



Ozone in the Atmosphere. — Ozone, like electricity, exists normally 

 in the atmosphere, but varies in amount in different localities at differ- 



1 " Ozone and Antozone : their History and Nature." By Cornelius B. Fox, M. D. 

 London, 1873. 



