326 ACTION OF OZONE ON SOME ORGANIC MATTERS. 
ing the total amount present, and of improving the average 
purity of the air operated on. In the atmosphere of con¬ 
fined spaces, or of places where the source of impurity is 
limited, as in a room containing but one or few cases of some 
contagious disease, this result is speedily obtained. The mere 
exposure of an extended surface of permanganate solution will, 
in general, suffice to destroy as great an amount of impurity as 
that which is continually being imparted to the atmosphere. 
THE ACTION OE OZONE ON SOME ORGANIC MATTERS. 
By M. Besanez. 
M. Besanez has found that on the following substances 
ozone has no action :—urea, hippuric acid, allantoin, alloxan, 
creatine, leucine, fibrine, gelatine, starch, sugar, inosite, 
amygdaline, and salicine. 
Cyanide of potassium rapidly absorbs ozone, and is 
changed into the cyanate. Uric acid diluted with water, 
and agitated with ozonized air, is dissolved and changed into 
allantoin and urea. 
Creatinine is moderately acted on, the products being 
creatine and an acid, the nature of which the author will 
describe hereafter. 
The action of ozone on albumen is very curious. M. 
Besanez hoped to find urea among the protein bodies; but 
although he directed his attention particularly to this point, 
he was disappointed. Not an atom of the compound was 
produced, and the author does not believe in the transforma¬ 
tion of albumen into urea by oxidation with hypermanganate 
of potash. 
In contact with ozonized air, albumen becomes slightly 
coloured, and then forms a coagulum somewhat analogous 
to fibrine, but insoluble in a solution of nitrate of potash. 
After some time this coagulum liquefies, and when the 
liquid ceases to absorb ozone it is no longer coagulated by 
heat nor precipitated by mineral salts, always excepting the 
tribasic acetate of lead. By evaporation in a water bath it 
leaves a brownish residue, which is partially soluble in 
alcohol. The principal result of this experiment, accord¬ 
ing to M. Besanez, consists in the formation of a compound 
similar to that produced when albumen is acted on by gastric 
juice. 
The action of ozonized air on casein resembles the action 
