The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1849-06-15
From the N. Y. Evening Post.
DIR. METCALF ON OZONE.l

DIX MEVCALF ON OZONEs1
| AT time when general attention is called to the
alleged specific for cholera coming 10 from Chica-
60 we are pleased to be able lay before readers
the following abstract of paper read by DR.. Met
call, before the New York Homeopathic Physicians
Society, at the last meeting Of that association, and
directed by them TO be published:
The medical world OF our Alopathic brethren hay
ing been lately startled with the fftieh announce
OF the discovery Of the cause of the Asiatic cho
lera, and of ready ind innlible specific for It, and
excited thereby, have thought it would not be I'M
acceptable TO the society TO lay before them some
considerations upon the subject
| shall briefly state the history OF Osoae, the al
cholera; its chemical nature and properties invesii-
gate the evidence TINT is the of THAT epidem
ic or Of any Others and finally consider its relation
| sulphur, the new specific.
II wus, no doubt, one of the earliest observed phe-
nomenu in meteorology, that an object struck by
| lightning, was surrounded for some time after the
occurrence by an atmosphere having peculiar odor.
Its, indeed, one Of the most familiar parts Of the
description OF such an accident at the present day,
| that the place was filled with smell generally de-
| scribcd us "siApturous.n When the identity of
lightning with electricity mechanically developed
had been established .and the power Of repeating the
great transactions OF nature In miniature, upon the
laboratory table was obtained, the same phenomenon
was observed TO attend the passage OF an electric
spnrk through the air, the silent discharge Of the
positive fluid from pointed wire II was also
marked that in the decomposition OF water by gavun-
ism, similur odor appeared at the positive pole
when gaseous oxygen was evolved. These well cs-
tablished facts seem TO have excited no curiosity
fruitful in results until years since they al
racted the attention Of Professor Schnnbein of Basle
name then well known to science, and since more
widely spreud that of tho discoverer of gun.cot-
ton He has since laborcd assduously on the SUBJ
ect and to him indebted for most OF the facts
with which we arc now acquainted.
Professor Schmnbein started with the hypothesis
fhuft ha pIn nh yai Nyn dina ltur nh
stance developed by the passage Of the current Of
eleclrity, and which he proposed TO call sosone !"
a word derived from the Greek, and sgnifying
smell" He nscertained that it was possible to i'm
pregnatc the air OF glass jar very strongly with the
peculiar odor, and that If closely stopped, II would
remain FOR any length OF time apparently unaltercd
but all attempts to Isolate II entirely from other bod
les or so to accumulate II as to render Ii visible
entirely unsuccessful and II remains to this day what
its name IMPORTS only smell.
The original mode Of preparing 1t was tedious and
unprodnctivo; il seems to have consisted in passing
electric sparks throughioxygen gus confined in jar,
of water with gold or piatna poles. schgnbein,
however, soon discovered more fertile source Of
ozone, in the action OF pure and clean phosphorus
upon moist oxygen. II n small piece OF that sub
stance he placed in jar containing such quantity
ofwacr that it shall be only hafinmersed in tie fluid,
and the whole he then exposed 10 temperature Of
10 so deg Of Farenheit for few hours the air OF
the Jar will be found strongly charged with ozone.
lhe properties Vi tiS CURIOUS prOuuct are very re-
markable. 1t has most powerful odor resembling
that OF phosphorus or arsenic, and strong, that
nfnlesinal quantity produces a sensible impression
on the otactory nerves. II is Of the. strongest
oxidizng agents known to chemistry. II is more
pow eriu bleaching principle than chlorine, destroy
ing vegetable coors with great rapidity and is
ceedingly poisonous when breathed. BY virtue o.
its power Of oxidation, II destroys carbureted SUI
phureted and arsenureled hydrogen, transforms sul-
phorous and phosphorous into sulphuric and phos-
phorc acids decomposes iodide and ferro-cyanide Of
POTASSIUM converts many proioxdes, into peroxides
discharges thecolor Of sulphuret Of lead and Of
other sulphnn6 encompasses ether, alcohol, and
organic matters and destroys completely and with
greail energy all vegetable coloring matters While
eilecng these changes II disappears ITSELF ils char
aclerisc odor vanishing with great rapidily. A
very low degree OF heat also destroys IL, for on
passing ozOnzed air through glass tube gently
heated by lamp, it issues entirely deprived Of
smell.
The nature Of ezone is one of the most unsettled
points in chemistry, as there some who deny its
very existence Schnenbein, surprised by its ex-
traordnury bleaching powers, was ut first led to
consider 1t as new elementary body of the chlorine
series another time he suspected II TO be the long
sought base Of nitrogen; but he has finally setteddown
into the opinion thati is peroxide Of hydrogen
not Identical, but isomeric, with that prepared by
Thenard. Faraday attributed the odor of the cleo
trio discharge to the formation Of IN exceedingly
minute portion Of nitric acid by tho combination Of
the elements of the atmosphere but subsequently
abandoned the hypothesis, the Odor appeared
when no nitrogen WAS present. NIessrs. DE La Rive
and Marignac of Geneva believe that ozone is oxy-
gen brought into peculiar condition by electricity
in other words that IL is nm aOtrOpic form of oxygen
Others suppose 1t 70 be nitrous nitric acid, phos
phorus or hyPophophorus acid, oxygen and phospho-
rio acid arsenious acid. hyponitrc acid, and organic
matter altered by phosphorus.
1t does not concern us TO settle these disputed
points--time and extended experiments can alone
throw light upon them, and enable MS TO ascertain
the truth In the meantime, il were TO be desired
that we had more accurate observations respecting
the action OF this agent upon the animal economy.
What we know on this point is soon told. Schnn-
ben sIutes that mouse introduced into jar
tanning ozonizcd air, expired In five minutes, and
that three or four inspirations of the same uir by
himself caused disagrecahle stranglng sensation
nenr the throat and chest Ii we add that it is said
to produce catarrhal symptoms similar 10 those
caused by the inhalation of chlorine, we have OK
haustcd all our information on this subject.
The testimony as to its action a cause of chol-
err is almost as soon disposed Of If paste, COM
posed Of common starch Into which little iodide of
potassium has been introduced, be spread upon pa
per- and strips of this be exposed TO air containing
ozone the salt will be decomposed, and the liberated
| iodidc will attest the decomposition by combining
with the starch TO form ts peculiar blue compound
| These strips are considered by Schnnbein us
very delicate test for ozone, and by their aid he has
detected minute quantity of that agent as almost
constantly present in the atmosphere He is farther
of opinion that he has observed sensiby greater
amount Of 1t in the hr during the prevalence Of in
luenza than nj other times, and has suggested that
possibly these two facts may be connected. sim
liar conclusion has been reached by one or two OBJ
servers in Great Britain who have repeated these en-
periments. There s, within my knowledge, no far
Their testimony to the matter than this and this is
manifcstly insufficient TO establish respectable sci
entiic probability that the prevalence Of influenza
and the presence OF large amount Of ozone than
usual in the air, ordinarily coincident facs. A
much more extended induction, II larger number Of
observers, more accurate knowledge Of the habit
udcs of ozone, and series of observations embra-
cling greater range of country and climate would
BIO necessary establish this connoxon, and still
farther and different series to show that they stand in
the relation Of cause and effect
The suggestion then, that ozone is the cause of
influenza IN II mere suggeston--t may be truth but
as yet il has not reached the region Of probability
| II has been asserted to be the cause of Asiatic
cholera, not from direct observation, but simply on
account Of some lfancied connection between the
two epdecs; but it is evident that this assertion
stands one degree more remote from truth Than the
other, until il is shown 10 be at least probable that
such connexion between the diseases is not wholly
imaginary.
| If any however, are disposed to regard either
| suppositon as sufficiently pruboble To warrant thcm