Deposits from the Mediterranean 



strongly in a current of air freed from moisture and carbonic 

 acid by passing it through a tube rilled with soda-lime and 

 another filled with calcium chloride. The water was collected 

 in a calcium chloride tube, and the carbonic acid in a soda-lime 

 tube, and weighed. The boat was again weighed after the 

 heating, and the difference in weight is called total loss. In 

 every case the mud was of a reddish colour after heating. It 

 will be observed that in all cases the loss of weight of the sub- 

 stance is different from the gain of weight of the tubes; as a 



TABLE IV. Determination of Amount of Carbonic Acid. 



rule, it is decidedly less. In so complex a substance as a deep- 

 sea mud it is impossible to account for this in detail; but 

 organic matter, which is never absent from such muds, would, 

 by its oxidation, in< rr.i>e the weight of the tubes at the expense 

 "i the air, \vhil< t ition of the fixed components, such as 



mild have a like effect on the ignited mini. 

 The figures, therefore, in the Table give a complex result, from 

 which it is impossible to isolate the separate items. It ii 



