SALINITY AND SPECIFIC; uRAVITY. 



643 



8, phosphorus ; 9, nitrogen ; 10, carbon ; 11, silicium ; 12, boron ; 

 13, silver; 14, copper; 15, lead; 16, zinc; 17, cobalt; 18, nickel; 

 19, iron ; 20, manganese ; 21, aluminium ; 22, magnesium ; 23, calcium ; 

 24, strontium ; 25, baryta ; 26, sodium ; 27, potassium. 



" The substances which, in respect of quantity, .play the principal part 

 in the constitution of sea-water, are chlorine, sulphuric acid, soda, potash, 

 lime, and magnesia; those which occur in less but still determinabl 

 quantity, are silica, phosphoric acid, carbonic acid, and oxide of iron. All 

 the numerous other elements occur in so small a proportion, that they 

 have no influence whatever on the analytical determination of the salinity 

 of sea-water. 



" The next question to be considered refers to the proportion between 

 all the salts together and the water ; or, to express it in one word, the 

 salinity of the sea-water ; and in connection with this salinity or strength, 

 the proportion of the different solid constituent parts among themselves. 

 On comparing the older chemical analyses of sea-water, we should be led 

 to suppose that the water in the different seas had, besides its salinity, its 

 own peculiar character, expressed by the different proportions of its most 

 prevalent acids and bases, but the following researches will show that this 

 difference is very trifling in the Ocean, and has a more decided character 

 only near the shores, in the bays of the sea, and at the mouths of great 

 rivers, wherever the influence of the land is prevailing. 



" I have always calculated the single substances, and the whole quantity 

 of salt, for 1,000 parts of sea- water; but, besides this, I have calculated 

 the proportion between the different substances determined, referred to 

 chlorine = 100, and of all the salts likewise referred to chlorine. This 

 last number is found, if we divide the sum of all the salts found in 1,000 

 parts of any sea-water, by the quantity of chlorine found in it, and I call 

 it the co-efficient of that sample of sea-water. There is a very small 

 difference in the co-efficients of the different parts of the Ocean, but the 

 differences become striking in the neighbourhood of the shores." 



Without going into the details given by Professor Forchhammer, we 

 extract the following as the general results of his investigations : — 



"If we except the North Sea, the Kattegat, Sound, and Baltic, the 

 Mediterranean and Black Seas, the Caribbean Sea, and the Eed Sea, 

 which have all the characters of bays of the great Ocean, the mean num. 

 bers are the following : — 



" Thus it is evident that sea- water in its totality is as little a chemical 

 compound as the atmospheric air ; that it is composed of solutions of 

 different chemical compounds ; that it is neutral, because it everywherv, 

 in the atmosphere finds carbonic acid to neutralize its bases, and every- 

 where on its bottom and shores finds carbonate of lime to neutralize any 



