430 THE CHEMISTRY OF CREATION. 



on a most extensive scale, which process is 

 carried on less by the free oxygen of the atmo- 

 sphere than by that of the ozone produced by 

 this peculiar property of the organic particles 

 in the sea-water.* The source of the organic 

 matter in the waters of the ocean lies in the 

 decomposition of innumerable marine animals 

 daily dying in its depths, and also in the or- 

 ganic matters brought down and swept into 

 the ocean by rivers. 



It has been lately found by Professor Forch- 

 hammer, that in fresh-water also there is 

 generally a considerable amount of organic 

 matter. It is greatest in summer, and almost 

 disappears as soon as the water freezes. Its 

 quantity is diminished by rain, and also when 

 the water has to run a long way in open chan- 

 nels. Whether the results of an examination 

 into the organic constituents of sea-water will 

 furnish a similar series of facts, cannot at present 

 be stated. 



In addition to the ingredients hitherto recog- 

 nised as producing a portion of the saline con- 

 tents of sea-water, another has been recently 

 discovered by Dr. Wilson. This is the remark- 

 able element Fluorine. By some ingenious 

 experiments upon the crust of the steam-boilers 



* It is supposed by the discoverer of ozone, that the sliming 

 of rotten wood in the dark is due to its possessing the same 

 power with regard to atmospheric oxygen as phosphorus. 



