THE COMPOSITION OF WOODS HOLE SEA WATER. 163 



DISCUSSION. 



These analyses are in rather close agreement with those of 

 Wheeler (5) made at Beaufort, North Carolina. The sodium and 

 specific gravity are slightly lower than most of Wheeler's and 

 Ditmar's (6) analyses. Whether the lower sodium is due to an 

 error in one or other of the methods we cannot say. 



The phosphate showed the marked seasonal variations first 

 carefully investigated by Atkins (7) . At times we could find no 

 determinable quantity present. Atkins has shown that these 

 variations are largely dependent on the plankton growth es- 

 pecially the diatoms. 



F. W. Clark (8) gives a summary of most determinations that 

 have been made of the composition of the oceanic salts. 



SUMMARY. 



1. The relative quantities of the more important salts in the 

 Woods Hole, Massachusetts, sea water have been determined. 



2. The Kramer-Gittleman technique for the determination of 

 sodium in serum has been modified for the analysis of sea water. 

 It has been shown that Mg and Ca interfere seriously when 

 present in quantity and must be removed before the Na de- 

 termination. 



It is a pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness to Dr. W. A. 

 Perlzweig for his many valuable suggestions. 



REFERENCES. 



1. B. Kramer and F. F. Tisdall. 



1921. Jour. Biol. Chem., 46, 339. 



2. B. Kramer and I. Gittleman. 



1924/25. Jour. Biol. Chem., 62, 353. 



3. I. H. Page. 



BIOL. BULL. In press. 



4. S. Benedict and R. Theis. 



1924. Jour. Biol. Chem., 61, 63. 



5. A. S. Wheeler, 



1910. Jour. Am. Chem. Soc., 32, 646. 



6. W. Dittmar. 



1884. Challenger Report I (Phys. and Chem.) i. 



7. W. R. G. Atkins. 



1923. Jour. Marine Biol. Assn., 13, 119. 



8. F. W. Clarke. 



1916. Bui. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 



n 



