Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1859-02-02
NATURES GREAT DIsIyrECT.yT,

Monsieur SsOutteten, head physician at the
Military hospital at Metz, has published a book
on the new-fOund body called by chemists
ozone, which probably contains the newest as
well as the most reliable facts in reference to
this interesting subject. very careful anaIy-
sis Of this work was Published in recent num-
ot " Household Words" and we gather from
This source few points Of interest, which we
Selleve are not genally known.
Ihe latest and most accurate experiments Of
French chemists have proved that ozone. at
hrst supposed to have been an cdorous princi-
pie enanating from simple elementary body.
and afterwards a compound Of oxygen and nv
drn5en, IS nothing more than oxygen eIectri-
hed- 1t Is co!oricSS, Of 4 penetrating nausea
nnnd smell, aad Is the most powerful agent of
oxydation known. 1t Oxydses cold silver ard
-hes;a y when both are moist. destroys organic
'coloring matters, as well as ligneous ard albu-
lnlnous matters 1t is produced naturally in
nc AR whenever an electric discharge takes
place; and Il may be prepared artifcialIy in
nc laboratory, the simplest mode being to
plunge stick OF phosphorus half in air and
lsit ln fsater. Ii is little curious that the
'2dor giyon of by artifcially prepared ozone.
- ldedtioal with the odor which spreads itself
lrdand spot stricken with lightning; and it
's0elicVed than the tior Of the air trayersed
~ lightning is owing to the formation Of ozone
Passing over all that has been said in refer
cnee to what this new fonud substance is ex-
pcctej 20 accomplish in the arts in chemistry
and IN agriculture, We come to the main fac,
that 1t has the Eower TO destroy sulpburot,cd
hydrogen; that it is readily absorbed by a
great number of vegetable and animal sub
stances; that II eStlrpates all Oxylablc miasrns
aud is the most powerful disinfecting agent vct
discovered Stranger still, this invisible aaid
pervades the whole earth it is manifested in
very decided quantities over sheets Of water.
ana the air ia its normal state contains one
ten-thOusandth part OF ozone. Ii has been
found that when the proportion is raised 70
one two-thOUsandth part, il is powerful enough
to Kill small animals. So delicate are the cal
culatiOns in the mammoth laboratories Ct Ma
ture,
Although the study of ozone has already ad-
vanced beyond Its rudiments, the facts a'rcady
known are curious and interesting Dy the
means OF slips OF paper, iInpregnated with
IodIde Of potassium and starch sonc OF the
chemists have carried on a series of ern,ri.
ments by which they can measure the quantity
81 ozone IN the atmosphere at aDy given time
The prepared paper is called an CzonOmoter.
and there rs an "zoDOmetric scale, running
from one to ten. These tests are not ALWAYS
satisfactory, but it has been found that ozo1e
Is more abundant in the upper regions of the
air than in the lower strata,-an observation
which is justified by experience in reference to
the healthy effects of mountain air Il has
also been ascsrtaiGe1 that ozone is found to be
absent in Inhabited dwellings, unOn whi.b the
writer whose statements we are collatng. re-
marks that ga clue is thus given TO the differ
ent effects upon the health produced by in
door exercise and out. door exercise, By town
life and country life, by labor in a metropoli-
tan workshop, and labor in the open fields. ="
Experiments were made in the hospitals AZ
Versailles and Metz, for days together, with
out showing the slightest trace of ozone, while
slips hung outside OF the windows gave seven.
eight, and even ten degrees of the ozonometric
scale.
We shall not go any further into the facts
and theories of these French chemists, nor fol
low them in their Speculations and experiments
as to the effects of the deficiency or excess flor
there can be too much of good thing) OF OF me
In breeding miasnatic feyers, epidemics, and
inhuenzas. Ii is sufficient for US To know that
a kind Providence has provided n vast disin
fecting agent WHICH constantly sReetens the
polluted air and destroys the uoxiOus gases
which spread themselves around the rranufnc-
tories and hauats OF men. Nature i con-
stintly yentIlating herself; il is only man who
shuts himself on from the wholesome iDGu-
ences Of the fresh, Hsaven-sent air Tire all
pervadlng ozone comes 10 Us continually from
the thunder storms, or the invisible electric
current, or from the surface of the rivers and
seas; but lTOm The owners of the oVer-croWdsd
tenement house 20 the whole race UE sections
JanItors and Car-cOnductOrS, no one seems 10
take the hint given by natures great disinfec
tant, although the best physicians have assert
ed, and dinned II into the ears OF the public
Tor years, that scrOfula, assumption ard
other malignant forms of disease, are produced
and perpetuated by neglect of a proper sys-
tenn OF yentilation.-Jo"rnaLO Of Commerec.