410 THE CHEMISTRY OF CREATION. 



important investigations into the comparative 

 analysis of sea-water, and his results are inte- 

 resting. The following extracts are from his 

 report on this subject : " In the ocean be- 

 tween Europe and America, the greatest quan- 

 tity of saline matter is found in the tropical 

 region, far from any land: in such places, 

 1000 parts of sea- water contain 3 6 '5 parts of 

 salts. This quantity diminishes on approaching 

 the coast, on account of the masses of fresh- 

 water which the rivers throw into the sea: it 

 diminishes, likewise, in the westernmost part 

 of the Gulf Stream, where I only found it to 

 be 35-9 in 1000 parts of the water. By the 

 evaporation of the water of this warm cur- 

 rent, its quantity of saline matter increases 

 towards the east, and reaches, in N. lat. 39 39' 

 and W. long. 55 16', its former height of 36'5. 

 From thence it decreases slowly towards the 

 north-east, and sea-water, at a distance of 

 sixty to eighty miles from the western shores 

 of England, contains only 35*7 parts of solid 

 substances ; and the same quantity of salt is 

 found all over the north-eastern part of the 

 Atlantic, as far to the north as Iceland ; always 

 at such a distance from land that the in- 

 fluence of fresh-water from the land is avoided. 

 From numerous observations made on the 

 shores of Iceland and the Faroe islands, it 

 is evident that the water of the Gulf Stream 



