SCIENTIFIC SUMMAKY. 
99 
CHEMISTRY. 
Does Ozone exist in the Atmosphere ? — Admiral Berigny put this question 
seriously to the Academy of Sciences at its meeting on Nov. 27th. This 
gentleman has been led, after ten years of ozonometric observations, to doubt 
the existence of ozone properly so called in our atmosphere. He therefore 
asks the Academy to appoint a commission in order to decide definitively, 
(1) whether ozone exists in the atmosphere ; (2) whether Schonbein’s or any- 
body else’s papers prove the presence of electrized oxygen ; and, lastly,, 
whether an easy and pliable method of detecting it could not be devised. 
The Academy appointed a commission, composed of Chevreuil, Dumas, 
Pelouze, Pouillet, Boussingault, Le Yerrier, Valliant, Fremy, and E. Becquerel, 
whose report will, no doubt, scatter popular notions on atmospheric ozone to 
the winds. To say the truth, the evidence in favour of the presence of ozone 
in the atmosphere is, as M. Fremy showed to the Academy, of the most 
doubtful character. M. Fremy said that he knew of only one certain test for 
ozone in the air, and that was the oxidation of silver, by passing a current of 
moist air over the metal ; and this test he had applied many times without 
obtaining any indication of ozone. We are very far from being acquainted, 
he said, with all- the bodies held in suspension in the air, and, consequently, 
ignorant of the action they may exert on iodide of potassium. May not, he 
asked, this salt become alkaline, or set free iodine under other influences 
besides that of ozone ? He did not deny the fact of its presence, but he 
asked a positive proof of it. Such a proof is required ; for seeing that 
ozone is instantly destroyed by organic matters, and absorbed by nitrogen, it 
is difficult to understand how such a body can continue to exist in the air, 
which contains precisely the elements which would at once change the ozone. 
As regarded the test-papers, he asked, what use there could be in a re-agent 
which was affected not only by ozone, but by the oxygen compounds of 
nitrogen, by oxygenated water, by ammonia, by formic acid, by essential oils, 
by the acid products of combustion, by dusts — in a word, by all sorts of 
things which are held in suspension in the air. — Vide Chemical News, 
December. 
Formation of Nitrous Acid from Ammonia. — It is well known that 
ammonia is decomposed by permanganate of potash, and nitrogen evolved. 
It does not, however, appear to have been hitherto observed that a good deal 
of nitrous acid is formed at the same time. If the decolourized solution is 
filtered from the precipitated hydrated peroxide of manganese, and slowly 
evaporated to dryness, a mixture of carbonate and nitrite of potash is 
obtained. Abundant red fumes of nitrous acid will be evolved from the 
residue on the addition of an acid. W. — Annal. der Chem. und Pharm., 
November, p. 256. 
Detection of Antimony in Tube Sublimates. — A method for the detection of 
antimony under the above conditions, when the .operator has only access to 
a portable blowpipe, is given by Professor Chapman, of Toronto. It is as 
follows : — The portion of the tube to which the chief part of the sublimate 
is attached is to be cut off by a triangular file, and dropped into a test-tube 
containing some tartaric acid dissolved in water. This being warmed or 
H 2 
