D. CHEMISTllY AND METALLURGY. 179 



D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 



CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF DEAD-SEA AVATER. 



Li addition to the long-known buoyancy of the water of 

 the Dea Sea, owing to its saline contents, its other peculiari- 

 ties are an excessive bitterness, from which the mouth can 

 not readily be freed, and a peculiar greasiness, readily ob- 

 served upon passing the hand through it. Bathing in it 

 produces an unpleasant itching and prickling over the whole 

 body, even after thorough rubbing, which can only be allayed 

 by a bath in the purer w^ater of the Jordan. Prolonged and 

 frequent contact with the w^ater even causes pustules upon 

 the skin. Its fatal effect upon all organic life is generally 

 known, destroying immediately, as it does, even such ani- 

 mals as have been accustomed to strong salt-water, although 

 fish exist in considerable numbers in its tributaries. This 

 effect is attributed in part to the saline matter contained in 

 it, amounting to as much as twenty-eight per cent., and in 

 part to the quantity of bromine in the water. It was shown 

 by Schneider that small fish were seen in a tributary of the 

 Dead Sea up to a point where the density was 1.115, and it 

 was his impression that chloride of magnesium was the chief 

 cause of the fatal quality of the water. The chemical com- 

 position varies with the season, amount of rain foil, etc. ; and, 

 according to Terrell, the density upon the surface varied be- 

 tween 1.021 and 1.164, and increased to 1.256 at a depth of 

 984 feet. Cliemical analysis showed that the relative quan- 

 tities of the ingredients varied with the depth; the percent- 

 age of bromine, for example, rising from 0.167 per thousand 

 at tlie surface to 0.709 per thousand at the depth of 984 feet, 

 an unusual amount, and one that might be of importance in 

 the production of bromine. Iodine and phosphorus seemed 

 to be entirely wanting, and the absence of the latter, Lartet 

 insisted, would in part account for the absence of animal life. 

 In failinir to discover silver in it, Malao-uti afforded additional 

 evidence of a want of connection between this and the seas 







nearest to it. The conclusion, from chemical analysis as well 

 as a number of ireolosrical indications, is that the saline matter 



