ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY AND OZONE. 469 



of autumnal catarrh or hay-fever that is found in regions lying all the 

 way from five hundred to twenty-five hundred feet elevation above 

 the level of the sea. 1 It has already been shown by the experiments 

 of Becquerel on the plateau of St. Bernard, and by other observers, that 

 there is more of atmospheric electricity as we rise above the earth, 

 and the same has been proved also of ozone. If these results shall be 

 confirmed by a larger induction, by observations among the Catskill 

 and White Mountains, then we should have a potent and suggestive 

 explanation, so far as it would go, of the powerful hygienic effect of 

 mountain residence. 



III. In times when certain epidemics are abroad, such as cholera, 

 throat -distemper, scarlatina, etc., let observations made of the at- 

 mospheric ozone be compared with observations made at the same 

 season and same place in other years. Of course, whatever the facts 

 may be, we cannot rush to conclusions in this matter. If ozone be 

 absent, may not its absence be due to the fact that it has all been con- 

 sumed in deodorizing the impurities of the air, which impurities may 

 be the cause of the epidemic ? 



IV. Let the physiological and therapeutic effects of ozone on the 

 human system be studied by a large and copious induction from a 

 wide variety of temperaments and diseases. 



The criticisms that you will make on this paper I can easily fore- 

 see. You will say — and not unjustly — that in all these researches, 

 and especially in those that relate to ozone, there is much of vague- 

 ness, little of precision — that an enormous margin yet remains wherein 

 we may study or conjecture. 



All this I admit freely and fully, but is it not so with the incipi- 

 ence of every science and of all forms of knowledge whatsoever ? 

 Shall we wait until our knowledge becomes absolute before we reveal 

 it ? Does it not rather become those of us who are seeking truth, as 

 often as may be, to take account of stock of our discoveries ? Is it not 

 well, now and then, to take an inventory of our ignorance, and see 

 how little we know ? In this grand and long campaign against the 

 kingdom of darkness we must forage on the enemy's country, and sus- 

 tain ourselves for the toils of the future by the best we can get as we 

 go along. I would be inspired by the words of Confucius : " What 

 we know, to know that we know it ; what we do not know, to know 

 that we do not know it, that is knowledge." I would be inspired by 

 the example of Lessing, who preferred to seek after truth, than to 

 find it. 



1 Blakeley, in his work on "Hay Fever," has shown by experiments that more, spores 

 and pollen, by far, are found a thousand feet or so above the earth than at the ordinary 

 breathing level. These experiments would indicate that the cure of this disease, by re- 

 movel to elevated regions, must at least be explained in some other way than by the the- 

 ory that the mountain air contains less irritating substances. This subject I hope to be 

 able to investigate at the White Mountains during the coming summer. 



