260 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



and the evidence that this water enters the strata in the country back from 

 the neighboring city of Charlestown, is almost conclusive. Many of the open 

 wells of that city contain a clear water, having bicarbonate of soda in excess 

 over the earthy salts also contained in it, and I have found that the argiUite 

 and clay beds contain sulphates of lime and soda, as well as silicates of soda 

 and potash. 



The occurrence of fresh water forced up from below the ocean, along the 

 border of our Southern States, has been frequently described. I have ob- 

 served phenomena in several places among the West India Islands, illustrating 

 this flow from the land under the water of the ocean, where the elevation of 

 volcanic mountains was considerable. 



The mere presence of fresh water at the bottom of the ocean infiltrating 

 through the slime, or sand, would be sufficient to induce chemical changes by 

 the disturbance of electrical relations. "While the surface and mass of the 

 ocean water, absorbing oxygen from the air, would be positive to a stratum 

 of sea-water mixed with fresh at the bottom, decompositions of oxydized 

 bodies with simpler forms of matter would take place near the line where 

 they blended. I am disposed to consider the presence of organic matter, 

 either carried in solution from the land, or taken up from the salt and stirred 

 by the fresh water, as the more active cause of decomposition of oxydized 

 bodies. The formation of the sulphurets of metals, from metallic masses, 

 which have been deposited at the bottom of the sea, on soundings, is more 

 simply explained by this mode of action also. The existence of a drainage 

 flow of turbid water, or a water containing bicarbonates of alkalies, or alka- 

 line earths, along a coast line, would account for the green color of sea- water 

 on soundings near coasts. The division of blue water into many thin portions 

 between reflecting surfaces, produced by the presence of suspended solid par- 

 ticles, alters its color to the hue which, by contrast, is called green. These 

 solid, though finely divided particles, would be far more abundant in the case 

 of the flow of alkaline waters, for the mixing of such waters with the ocean 

 would be followed by the constant decomposition of the lirne salts of the 

 ocean water, and the production of carbonate of lime in a hydrous, gelatinous 

 form, passing into the state of opaque particles, and precipitating continuously. 

 A natural cause for the production of carbonate of lime, by precipitation from 

 the lime salts held in solution by sea- water, is thus acting along the coast line 

 of this and probably other countries. The influence of the minute quantity 

 of organic matter contained in drainage water in producing chemical changes 

 of importance is rendered apparent, in this connection, by its power of decom- 

 position of oxygen sources. 



Professor "W. B. Rogers remarked that the fact of the entire deoxydation 

 of sulphuric acid on a great scale in nature was well exemplified in the 

 tertiary clays and sands of extensive districts in the marl region of Virginia. 

 Some of these deposits contain, even now, so much free, or only partially 

 neutralized, sulphuric acid as to impart to the mass a strong acid flavor and 

 reaction. The shells originally imbedded in them having been entirely 

 removed by the solvent action of the acid, have left in the clay and sand 

 innumerable hollow casts, beautifully impressed with the external markings 



