Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1876 — Ozone—What is it? [ARTICLE]

Ozone—What is it?

A certain seaside town has been considerably puffed into notoriety as a suitable resort for persons seeking health, on account of the quantity of ozono in the atmosphere. We will not dispute the fact, hut it may be doubted whether one seaside town more than another naturally possesses any specially large amount of ozone. Wnat, however, is ozone? That is a question more easily asked than answered. It appears to be a highly concentrated condition of the oxygen which forms the peculiarly vital part of the atmosphere, and is pn xinced through electrical agency. The mecnanical action of pure air over vegetation is productive of ozone, but still more manifestly is this subtle quality produced by the dashing of waves and spray against the air. These lashings of air ana sea mixed are, electrically speaking, in the nature of one substance rubbing on another. They evoke ozone, which, being inhaled in breathing, gives a stimulus to the constitution. Hence the benefit to health from a sea voyage, or a residence at a pleasant sea-side resort. Mr. Binney stated, at a recent meeting of the Manchester (England) Literary and Philosophical Society, that the atmosphere of towns may be sensibly ozonized, and of course improved in quality by the action of public fountains. He says: “ A water fountain may be regarded as a hydro-electric machine, the friction of the water issuing through the jets developing electric action, materially assisted by the conversion of the spray into aqueous vapor. I would suggest that this tact should be prominently brought before municipal bodies, to induce them to erect fountains in all available places in large cities, as sanitary agents. They might prove highly beneficial in crowded localities. ” It need only be added that the delicate and wholesome freshness of the air after & rattling thunder shower in summer is very much due to the development of ozone. The subject of ozone, in its various phases, is at present engaging the attention of scientific inquirers, and we may soon hear more about it. —Scientific American.