CHAPTER XLVII. 

 THE SEA AND THE SKY. 



THE SEA SALT WATER WAVES AND THEIR EFFECTS UNDER WATER 



THE FLOOR OF THE OCEAN. 



FROM our childhood the sea has been the companion and playmate of 

 thousands, the seashore their playground. Men have selected it for their 

 professional training and livelihood. Authors write of it, poets apostrophize, 

 scientists lecture upon it, and fathom it, bringing up from its depths many 

 a new fact and illustration for those who cannot study it for themselves. 

 There is nothing like it, nothing more majestic, more beautiful, more life- 

 giving than the ocean nothing so changeable nor so true. 



From the days when we could toddle along the beach, picking up the 

 shells, we have wondered at the ocean What was beyond it ? What did it 

 conceal ? 



" What hidest thou in thy treasure-caves and cells, 

 Thou hollow-sounding and mysterious main ? " 



Let us endeavour to find out. 



The first thing that strikes us is the saltuess of the sea. Sea water is 

 salt. Why ? One reason is because salts are carried into it by rivers, and 

 besides, it is more beneficial as salt water. But let us look at the facts. We 

 know that the earth contains many "salts," as we can see by the saline 

 springs. We have already given the chemical constitution of sea water, but 

 it will be useful to repeat the proportions. 



Water 96474372 grains. 



Salt (Chloride of Sodium) . ' 28-05948 



Chloride of Potassium ....... 076552 



Chloride of Magnesium . . f 3-66658 



Bromide of Magnesium ....... 0*02929 ,, 



Sulphate of Magnesia ....... 2*29578 



Sulphate of Lime 0*40662 



Carbonate of Lime (with traces of Iodine and Ammonia) 0-03301 



lOOO'OOOOO 



Some portions of the sea are not so salt as others, or, in other words, 

 not so dense, and the saltness of the water prevents it being frozen so quickly 



