94 SEASIDE DIVINITY. 



sea-water in different parts of the ocean, that is to 

 say, a difference in the quantities, and perhaps 

 proportions, of the salts it holds in solution. That 

 some parts of the ocean are salter than other 

 parts is beyond question. Now the salter the 

 sea water, the deeper is its blue, and the greener 

 it is, the less is its saltness. The waters of the 

 Grulf Stream are salter than the ocean through 

 which it flows, and their colour, as above stated, 

 is different, being of an indigo blue. And that 

 this difference in the amount of salts they contain 

 is one of the chief causes of the difference of the 

 colour of the sea-water is further confirmed by 

 the experience of those engaged in the manufac- 

 ture of salt by evaporation along the shores of 

 Italy and France. The more the sea-water is 

 exposed to evaporation in the vats into which it 

 enters from the sea, the salter it becomes, and it 

 is found that this change in its saltness is accom- 

 panied by an alteration in its colour, from the 

 green of its ordinary hue to a gradually deepening 

 shade of blue. The saltness of the ocean-waters, 

 already alluded to, is also a phenomenon which 

 merits the attention of the visitor of the sea- 

 shore. Several writers, some of them recent, but 

 not. well-informed on such matters, follow the old 

 authors who have referred to this peculiarity, by 

 repeating their hypothesis, that the saltness of the 

 water is a provision against the stagnation and 

 putrescence of the ocean. This is altogether 

 erroneous. Neither salt nor fresh water is liable 

 to what is popularly understood by putrescence ; 



