ussion, we have an opportunity of
bringing before our readers the results of investigations bearing on
the general question.

Most persons are aware of the fact, that a peculiar taste follows the
application of two different metals to the tongue in a popular
galvanic experiment. This taste is caused by the azotic acid formed
from the oxygen and azote of the atmosphere. An electric discharge,
too, is accompanied by a smell, which smell is due to the presence of
what is called ozone; and not long ago M. Schoenbein, of Basel, the
inventor of guncotton, discovered ozone as a principle in the oxygen
of the atmosphere; and it is considered to be the _active_ principle
of that universal constituent. Later researches have brought out a
striking analogy between the properties of ozone and chlorine, and
have led to conclusions as to the dangerous effect which the former
may produce, in certain cases, on the organs of respiration. Some idea
of its energy may be formed from the fact, that mice perish speedily
in air which contains one six-thousandth of ozone. It is always
present in the atmosphere in a greater or lesser degree, in direct
relation with the amount of atmospheric electricity, and appears to
obey the same laws in its variations, finding its maximum in winter
and its minimum in summer.

Ozone, in scientific language, is described as 'a compound of oxygen
analogous to the peroxide of hydrogen, or, that it is oxygen in an
allotropic state--that is, with the capability of immediate and ready
action impressed upon it.' Besides being produced by electrical
discharges in the atmosphere, it can be obtained artificially by the
passing of what is called the electrical brush into the air from a
moist wooden point, or by electrolyzed water or phosphorus. The
process, when the latter substance is employed, is to put a small
piece, clean scraped, about half an inch long, into a large bottle
which contains just so much of water as to half cover the phosphorus,
and then closing the mouth slightly, to guard against combustion, to
leave it standing for a time in a temperature of about 60 degrees.
Ozone soon begins to be formed, as shewn by the rising of a light
column of smoke from the phosphorus, which, at the same time, becomes
luminous. In five or six hours, the quantity will be abundant, when
the bottle is to be emptied of its contents, washed out, and closed
for use and experiment.

Whichever way the ozone be produced, it is al