114 THE FITNESS OF THE ENVIRONMENT 



the earth amounts to not less than 35,000,000,- 

 000,000,000 tons. Quite as significant of the 

 solvent power of water is the variety of 

 elements whose presence in sea water can be 

 demonstrated, thus proving that the total 

 store of them is in any case enormous. They 

 include hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, 

 chlorine, sodium, magnesium, sulphur, phos- 

 phorus, which are easily demonstrated; 

 further, arsenic, caesium, gold, lithium, ru- 

 bidium, barium, lead, boron, fluorine, iron, 

 iodine,' bromine, potassium, cobalt,, copper, 

 manganese, nickel, silver, silicon, zinc, alumin- 

 ium, calcium, and strontium. 1 



Equally striking is the evidence in regard 

 to the first stages of this geological process. 

 Under the action of water, aided, to be sure, 

 in many cases by dissolved carbonic acid, 

 every species of rock suffers slow destruction. 

 All substances yield in situ to the solvent 

 work of water, and the dissolved parts may 

 all be found in the great final reservoir, the 

 ocean. It has been proved that nearly 

 every one of the substances which are thus 

 set in motion upon the face of the earth are 

 placed under contribution by life, for bio- 

 chemical analysis reveals them as constitu- 

 ents of living organisms, absorbed either 



1 Arrhenius, "Kosmische Physik." 



