602 COVROSTE SD ROLMARN, 
In its immediate action, the ocean certainly has a moderating 
effect upon the temperature of the land. The great amount of 
heat necessary to raise the temperature of the water one degree, 
together with its vast evaporating surface, distributes the warmth 
received during the day over the night, much of the excess of 
the heat of summer throughout the winter, and the great downpour 
of radiant energy upon the tropics over the temperate and frigid 
zones. Whe question) then arises: In’ the greater cycles ofmthe 
variation of the earth’s climate (whether dependent directly or 
only in part upon the fluctuations of the carbon dioxide content 
of the atmosphere) does the ocean still play the beneficent rdle 
of protector against the advances of the greater winters, furnish- 
ing the atmosphere some of its enormous supply of CO, asa 
blanket against the cold? Or, does the increasing cold cause 
the ocean, like a selfish monster, to keep a more grasping hold 
on the precious gas as the need of it becomes more imperative ? 
1. Besides the CO, which may be absorbed by the ocean 
from the air, it receives the gas (1) from the respiration of 
aquatic animals (2) from the decomposition of organic matter 
(3) from the interior of the earth through springs, etc., and (4) 
from the bicarbonates brought in by the rivers. 
We find from analyses of the water of the ea rivers* 
of Europe, that about 60 per cent. of the entire mineral content 
of the river water is calcium carbonate dissolved as calcium 
bicarbonate. This calcium bicarbonate then is the great source 
of the extra carbon dioxide of the ocean. When this bicarbonate 
mixes with the ocean it is no longer strictly speaking, calcium 
bicarbonate, but mostly bicarbonate ions in equilibrium with 
small amounts of sodium, magnesium, calcium and potassium 
bicarbonates. 
2. The various bicarbonates have been subject to numerous 
investigations since the researches of H. Rose? in 1835. These 
contributions show that sodium, potassium, ammonium, and 
* BISCHOF, Chemical and Physical Geology, Vol. I, pp. 76, 77. 
?Journal fiir Praktische Chemie, Neue Folge 10, 1879, pp. 417-444. Zeits. fiir 
Anorg. Chemie., Vol. XVII, pp. 170-204. 
