28  Ozonization  of  Air  by  Moist  Phosphorus.  { jlris^so^"* 
Three  cases, of  diarrhoea,  which  paracotoic  acid  failed  to  relieve, 
yielded  promptly  to  paracotoin. 
Oxyleucotin,  leucotin  and  hydrocotoin  resemble  cotoin  and  paraco- 
toin in  their  action,  but  require  very  large  doses  to  produce  the  same 
effects. 
The  five  volatile  oils  of  paracoto  bark  do  not  possess  any  important 
physiological  action ;  the  properties  of  that  bark  reside,  therefore, 
almost  exclusively  in  the  paracotoin,  and  of  true  coto  bark  in  cotoin. 
The  volatile  oil  of  the  latter  bark  has  not  been  further  exammed. 
,  J.  M.  M. 
AMMONIUM  NITRITE  and  the  BY-PPRODUCTS  obtained 
in  the  OZONIZATION  of  AIR  by  MOIST  PHOSPHORUS. 
By  a.  R.  Leeds. 
Sterry  Hunt,  as  long  ago  as  1848,  threw  out  the  suggestion  that  the 
nitrogen  of  the  atmosphere  is  really  composed  of  two  equivalents 
(atoms)  of  the  element,  sustaining  toward  each  other  the  same  rela- 
tions as  the  two  equivalents  (atoms)  in  nitrous  oxide.  Schaeffer 
appears  to  have  arrived  at  a  similar  conclusion  concerning  the  dual 
nature  of  nitrogen,  and  holds  Hunt's  view,  that  it  is  the  nitryl  of 
ammonium  nitrite,  and  capable  of  forming  this  body  by  assuming 
again  the  elements  of  water.  In  1862  Schonbein  published  an  exten- 
sive series  of  experiments  on  the  generation  of  ammonium  nitrite 
from  water  and  atmospheric  air  under  the  influence  of  heat.  In  none 
of  these  experiments,  however,  was  the  precaution  apparently  taken 
to  use  air  which  had  been  purified  from  its  pre-existing  ammoniacal 
and  nitrous  compounds.  In  repeating  these  experiments  Carius 
employed  most  elaborate  precautions,  using  only  air  and  water  which 
had  been  most  carefully  purified.  The  water  was  evaporated  both  with 
a  rapid  and  with  a  slow  change  of  atmosphere,  at  various  temperatures, 
from  the  ordinary  temperature  of  the  air  to  100°,  both  alone  and  after 
addition  of  baryta,  the  latter  being  devoid  of  nitrogen  compounds,  in 
contact  with  platinum  spirals,  and  diffused  over  a  great  surface  of  puri- 
fied cotton-wool,  but  in  no  case  was  ammonium  nitrite  formed.  In 
such  experiments  therefore  it  is  of  the  highest  importance  to  exclude 
the  possibility  of  the  formation  of  ammonium  nitrite  and  nitrous  com- 
pounds from  any  extraneous  sources.  In  cases  of  rapid  oxidation,  like 
the  combustion  of  hydrocarbons,  fats,  phosphorus  and  other  bodies  in 
