Note 13 bis — Chapter IV · OZONE AND HYDROGEN PEROXIDE—DALTON'S LAW

The question of the presence of ozone in the air has not yet been fully elucidated, as those reactions by which ozone is generally detected are also common to nitrous acid (and its ammonia salt). Ilosvay de Ilosva (1889), in order to exclude the influence of such bodies, passed air through a 40 per cent. solution of caustic soda, and then through a 20 per cent. solution of sulphuric acid (these solutions do not destroy ozone), and tested the air thus purified for the presence of ozone. As no ozone was then detected the author concludes that all the effects which were formerly ascribed to ozone should be referred to nitrous acid. But this conclusion requires more careful verification, since the researches of Prof. Schönbein on the presence of peroxide of hydrogen in the atmosphere.