The constituents of climate : with special reference to the climate of Florida / by Frederick D. Lente.

  • Lente, Frederick D. (Frederick Divoux), 1823-1883
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The constituents of climate : with special reference to the climate of Florida / by Frederick D. Lente. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    oVijection, the iodized red-litmus paper; but Professor Leeds, of the Stevens' Institute of Technology, who has experimented largely witli ozone in Hoboken and in the Adirondack Moun- tains, informs me that this paper, in an artificial atmosphere of peroxide of hydrogen, gives the reaction of ozone, and that it is also not sufficiently sensitive. He states that peroxide of hy- drogen has lately been detected in the atmosphere for the first time by Struve, a Russian chemist. Schreiber, in his recent paper (op. cit), reiterates the assertion often made before-that pine forests are instrumental in the production of ozone. He says: It has been the custom for quite a long time to recom- mend the pine woods as a place of residence for pulmonary in- valids, but the ' why ' of the process has only recently been discovered. The turpentine exhaled from these forests possesses to a greater degree than all other bodies the property of con- verting the oxygen of the air into ozone, and as the latter destroys organic matter, the air of such forests must be, and consequently is, conducive to respiration. This was Schonbein's idea, because the oxydation of turpentine oil and other essential oils in the air caused the characteristic reaction of ozone on iodide of potassium. But the nature of this compound has lately been examined by Kingzett* (Chem. Soc. J [2] xij, 511), who finds that it cannot be either ozone or peroxide of hydrogen, because it is destroyed at the boiling point of oil of turpentine (160°), at which temperature ozone and H. P. are permanent. Moreover, it resists, to a certain extent, the action of sodium thiosulphate, and its solution in water retains its properties after long-continued boiling. Mr. Burgess, the inventor of the process for making paper from wood, found that the introduction of a few drops of oil of tur- pentine into his bleaching-room would not only prevent the fur- ther formation of ozone, but would even destroy that already existing.! It is very likely, however, that the terebinthinate odor is, of itself, rather soothing to diseased respiratory mem- branes ; but it is so diluted that, at a very short distance from the forest, it is lost entirely; and to be benefited at all, the * See Watta' Die. of Chemistry. Sec. Suppt. f Amer. Jour, of Med. Sciences, 1874, p. 420.