WATER OF THE OCEAN. 141 



with ; and 2d, the inutility of foap to aid that fluid in 

 cleanfing his clothes. If thefe can be fiirmounled, he 

 will have no excufe for his uncleannefs. If after this he 

 becomes uncomfortable or fickly from that caufe, it will 

 be owing to his own lazinefs or negligence. 



Few fubjedts have been difcufled with more folicitude 

 than the one, How did the ocean acquire its faltnefs ? 

 Whether that mafs of waters derived its briny quality 

 gradually by diflolving ftrata of fait, or whether it was 

 furnifhed by its Creator with a due quantity of that ma- 

 terial from the beginning, are queftions not neceflary 

 now to be anfwered. It is fufficient to obferve that it is 

 kept fweet and guarded againft offenfivenefs and corrup- 

 tion by the great quantity of' alkaline matter it con- 

 tains. The ocean may indeed be confidered as contain- 

 ing fome portion of every thing which water is capable 

 of containing or diflolving, and its water is therefore 

 found to furnilh different refults on analyfis, when taken 

 up from difterent depths and in different latitudes. 



Yet various as the compofition of ocean-water is, it al- 

 ways contains foda^ ?)higne/ta and //?«r, in quantity con- 

 hderable enough to be ealily detected. Of thefe foda is 

 the moft abundant. Magnefia is next in quantity. And 

 lime, though plentiful, is believed to exift in fmaller pro- 

 portion than either. 



The alkaline ^natter fo plentifully difperfed through the 

 water of the ocean, exerts its cuftomary neutralizing 

 power after the fame manner and according to the fame 

 laws which govern its feveral kinds on the land and in 

 other places. 



The acids commonly prefent in ocean-water are the 

 fulphuric^ the feptic and the muriatic. The former of 

 thefe exifts apparently in fmall quantity, and is only men- 

 tioned becaule in fome experiments it has been faid to 

 have been obtained from' it in the form of a fulphate of 

 Vol. V. U lime. 



