xii Proceedings. \^ January joth, igo6. 



potassium is higher \};\zx\. with sodium, if the chlorine united with an 

 alkaU metal at all it would be with potassium preferably, with 

 the result that potassium chloride would have been the principal 

 constituent of sea-water. 



Hunt's hypothesis gives a reasonable explanation of the 

 facts as they exist at the present time. It accounts, on the one 

 hand, for the immense quantities of common salt and of calcium 

 and magnesium carbonates which are known to exist, and on 

 the other hand it explains the tremendous amount of silica 

 which is found in the free state as sand, sandstone, and other 

 forms. These, basic and acid bodies, are the complements of 

 each other, and they formerly existed in combination as more or 

 less complicated silicates. 



Under any hypothesis as to the condition of the primeval 

 earth and ocean, one of the most difficult things to explain 

 is the fact that while the metals sodium and potassmm 

 probably exist in approximately equal quantities in the earth's 

 crust, the salts of the former predominate so greatly in the 

 waters of the ocean at the present time. There are several facts, 

 however, which go a long way towards explaining this anomaly. 

 First, there is the formation of marine deposits contairiing 

 potash, of which the mineral Glauconite is a good example. 

 This mineral is a silicate of iron and potassium, and appears to 

 be a product of the decomposition of certain marine organisms. 

 It is forming in various places at the present time, and is widely 

 distributed amongst the sedimentary rocks. There is no doubt 

 that the formation of substances such as Glauconite will account 

 for the abstraction of a considerable amount of potash from the 

 waters of the ocean. 



Then there is another fact (which Mendelejeff appeared to 

 think of great importance) namely, that soil of any kind, 

 especially when mixed with vegetable remains, r^/a/^^j compounds 

 of potassium much more readily than those of sodium, and this 

 probably will account for some more of the deficiency of 

 potassium salts in the ocean. There is also another consideration 

 to which I myself should attach considerable importance, and 



