304 



PETTERSSON, ON WATER AND I C E. 



Table i. Sea-v\^aters. 



Table 2. Brines. 



This shows, that the brine, which is eliminated from newly 

 formed sea-ice, can not be regarded as concentrated sea-water, 

 since it bas a toUdly different chemical coniposition. The freezing 

 of sea-water consequently must involve some chemical process, 

 which alters the proportions of its constitiients. I deemed it 

 necessary to stud}- the proportions of some of the chemical 

 components of the sea-ice, in order to get a clearer idea of 

 this matter. Unhappily for my pnrpose, the Vega-expedition 

 bad not brought home any samples of melted ice. I there- 

 fore tested several specimens of sea-ice from Kattegatt, the 

 Baltic and from Spitzbergen. ^ 



' After a consultation with Prof. Nordenskiöld I resolved to ask 

 permission of the government to accompany the Swedish meteorological 

 expedition of last year to Spitzbergen. Being commissioned by the R. Aca- 

 demy of Sciences, I visited the coast of Spitzbergen jn July and August 

 last year on board of H. M* ship Urd and, thanks to the kind aid of the 

 commander of the expedition, Captain Påla n der af Vega, was able to 

 procure ample specimens of arctic ice of different origin. My experiments 

 with this material l^eing far from terminated, I can here give only a part 

 of the results concerning the chemical constitution of sea-ice. 



