574 T. C. CHAMBERLIN 
the oceanic deposits are not bicarbonates in any notable degree. 
The chief agencies of this return are held to be organic, and will 
be considered presently. 
The chief compounds of both the land and sea waters are 
sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium chlorides and 
bromides ; sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium sulphates; 
sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium carbonates and bicar- 
bonates ; in other words, every combination which may take place 
between the acids and bases involved. Besides these salts there 
are, theoretically at least, the several acids and bases and a com- 
plete series of ions as well. There is a continuous dissociation and 
reunion in the effort to maintain equilibrium. The extent of the 
dissociation is dependent, among other things, notably upon the 
degree of concentration of the solution and upon its temperature. 
In an especial degree the extent of the freeing of the second 
equivalent of carbon dioxide is believed to be dependent upon 
this dissociation as influenced by temperature, and it is thus a 
vital consideration in realizing the function performed by the 
ocean during glacial episodes when its temperature was greatly 
changed. This function is made the subject of a special study 
in the paper of Mr. Tolman in this number of the JouRNAL." 
Mr. Yolman’s studies have been founded upon Dittmar’s 
experiments, and seem to show that the amount of carbonic acid 
freed from the bicarbonates by dissociation is very sensibly 
influenced by such changes of temperature as are necessary, 
according to the deductions of Dr. Arrhenius, to produce 
extended glaciation, on the one hand, and a mild climate in the 
arctic regions, on the other. In this he finds support for the 
suggestion which I made in a previous paper? that the ocean 
during a glacial episode instead of resupplying the atmosphere, 
in the stress of its impoverishment, would withhold its carbon 
dioxide to a certain extent, and possibly even turn robber itself. 
On the other hand, when the temperature is rising after a glacial 
Pp. 585-618. 
2A Group of Hypotheses Bearing on Climatic Changes, Vol. V, No. 7, 1897, 
p. 682. 
