

88 THE DEPOSITS OF THE SEA-BOTTOM. 



With regard to the possibility of producing the Coccoliths by artificial means, I have made 

 som trials in the way indicated by Steinmann. By precipitating albumen with calcium chloride or 

 calcium sulphate a precipitate is got consisting of small, globular bodies of an exceedingly regular, 

 spherulitic structure; I have, however, not been able to form genuine Coccoliths in this way. On the 

 contrary I have by precipitation of calcium chloride with ammonium carbonate without the presence 

 of albumen got a copious sediment consisting of almost globular grains of calcium carbonate, some of 

 which were made up of one single crystal, while others formed irregular spherulites of a rather coarse 

 structure; after having been left alone for some time genuine Coccoliths have also been produced of 

 a close resemblance to those from the chalk with regard to size, the want of a marginal plate etc. 

 Further examinations with different compounds, circumstances of concentration and temperature etc. 

 may perhaps give some elucidation with regard to the conditions of the forming of the Coccoliths in 

 nature, but such examinations would also carry us too far in this direction. 



The Coccoliths may accordingly be formed by purely inorganic means; probably the} - may 

 also be produced by albumen and calcium salts; but this has not yet been proved by the experiments 

 I have made in this direction. Whether the Coccoliths in nature are made by organic action or not, 

 cannot for the present be decided; their form indicates that they have all been placed on Coccospheres; 

 but whether these represent a living being, or are only to be regarded as a dead lump of slime, must 

 be left for the present, until either a nucleus is discovered in them with its characteristic reactions, 

 or, on the other hand, a Coccosphere is produced by chemical means; here is a wide range for future 

 examinations. 



The Coccoliths are found in very great numbers through the whole territory of the Iugolf 

 expedition. I have not, to be sure, searched for them in all the specimens; but where it has been 

 done, the number of them has appeared to be in a proper ratio to the whole mass of carbonate of 

 lime, of which they also form a very important part. They never, however, make up the whole of 

 the calcareous mud; an equally large part of this is made up of very small gritty calcareous bodies 

 of indefinite form, which, I think, are not well adapted for a closer examination. In all places where 

 Coccoliths are found, Coccospheres are also found, although in far smaller numbers; on an average 

 only one Coccosphere is found for each 50 Coccoliths. Rabdospheres and Rabdoliths have not been 

 found in these deposits, and, according to Murray, they are only found in the warmer seas. When, 

 on the other hand, the same author states that the Coccoliths should be wanting in the arctic seas, 

 then this statement has to be positively denied with regard to the region treated of here; they are 

 found in equally large numbers north and south of Iceland ; the only deposits in which they have 

 not been met with, are a few specimens near the coasts with exceedingly small quantities of carbonate 

 of lime; by a closer examination they might probably also be found here. 



The most important geological features of the bottom-specimens may now, I think, be suffi- 

 ciently elucidated; other examinations might, perhaps, still be made, and might give further informa- 

 tion; but the want of predecessors in the method I have followed, must be my excuse. I have not 

 found it necessary to make chemical analyses, partly because they are of rather long duration, and 



