a 
OF SEA-WATER, 235 
aid of the action of alcohol, either as a solvent or a precipitant, 
are so great, that analyses executed in this mode can scarcely 
be perfectly accurate. And as it appears, if the preceding ob- 
servations are just, that there is no certainty in the conclusion 
that the products of analysis by evaporation or crystallization 
are the real ingredients, no peculiar advantage in this respect 
belongs to this method, and just as much information is ob- 
tained by discovering the acids and bases which exist in solu- 
tion, and then inferring, according to the most probable view, 
what the states of binary combination are in which they exist. 
This kind of analysis has the advantage, that it can be execu- 
ted with much more precision than the other: it is liable to 
fewer sources of error, and, by finding the quantities, not of 
the compounds, but of the elements, any error that is introdu- 
ced is discovered, when the binary compounds are inferred. 
To ensure accuracy, therefore, it was desirable to apply it to 
the illustration of the present subject, more especially as the 
preceding analyses, though they do not differ greatly in the 
results, still, from these difficulties, do not exactly corre- 
spond. 
Different methods might be employed. The following is 
,the one I have preferred. 
To a pint of sea-water, reduced by evaporation to nearly 
one-fourth, at which state of concentration no crystallization 
nor deposition takes place, muriate of barytes was added as 
long as any precipitation occurred. By a preliminary trial, it 
Gg 2 was 
tween them; the quantity of its water of crystallization being considerably 
less. Its taste is much less disagreeable than that of sulphate of soda or sulphate 
of magnesia ; it might therefore probably be introduced with advantage as a pur- 
gative salt, especially as it could be procured at a low price; and from its 
composition, it would afford a very good substitute for the aperient mineral 
waters, which usually owe their activity to sulphate of soda and sulphate of 
magnesia. 
