1862.] 131 



renders imperceptible any difference that might otherwise arise from 

 the different proportion in which salts are carried into the sea by 

 rivers. It depends, besides, on the uniform action of the numberless 

 organic beings inhabiting the ocean which abstract sulphuric acid, 

 lime, potash, and magnesia from the water, and render them inso- 

 luble. 



The mean quantity of solid matter in the water of the ocean gene- 

 rally, the author found to be 34-304 per 1000. To determine this 

 mean quantity he has divided the ocean into regions, viz. : 



1st Region. Atlantic, from the Equator to 30 N. lat. ; mean 

 36-169. 



2nd Region. Atlantic, from 30 N. lat. to a line from the north 

 of Scotland to the north of Newfoundland ; mean 35-976. 



3rd Region. From the northern boundary of region 2 to the south 

 coast of Greenland ; mean 35*556. 



4th Region. Davis' s Strait and Baffin's Bay; mean 33'167. 



5th Region. Atlantic, between and 30 S. lat. ; mean 36-472. 



6th Region. Atlantic, between 30 S. lat. and a line from the 

 southernmost point of Africa to the southernmost point of America ; 

 mean 35-038. 



7th Region. Between Africa and the East Indian Islands ; mean 

 33-868. 



8th Region. Between the East Indian and the Aleutic Islands ; 

 mean 33-506. 



9th Region. Between the Aleutic and the Society Islands ; mean 

 35-219. 



1 Oth Region. The Patagonian stream of cold water ; mean 33' 966. 



llth. The Antarctic region ; mean 28*563. 



Besides these regions of the great ocean, the author enumerates 

 some other regions, which are under the decided influence of the 

 surrounding land. Such are the North Sea, with a mean quantity 

 of solid matter of 32-806 per 1000 ; the Kattegat and Sound, with 

 a mean of 15*126; the Baltic, mean 4'807; the Mediterranean, 

 mean about 37*5 ; the Black Sea, mean 15 - 894. Of the proportion 

 in the large bays of America the author had only one observation, 

 viz. in water from the Caribbean Sea, in which the quantity of saline 

 matter was found to be 36*104 per 1000. 



The author then showed that the equatorial regions contain the 



K 2 



