222 



ALFRED C. LANE 



One of the explanatory factors must certainly be that suggested 

 by T. Sterry Hunt, that in river water there is always more sodium 

 in proportion to the chlorine than in the ocean, and that hence the 

 carbonate of sodium, as it may be supposed to be combined, is always 

 reacting with the calcium-magnesium chloride of the ocean water, 

 throwing out calcium carbonate, probably by organic agencies, 

 and leaving sodium chloride in excess instead. Professor Joly, 

 of Dubhn, has based an estimate of the age of the earth upon this 

 accumulation of sodium in the ocean, which has been criticised, 

 because of some minor assumptions which do not affect the reason- 



TABLE II 



ANALYSES OF RIVER WATER 



Si 



Al 



Mn 



Fe 



Mg 



Ca 



K 



Na 



CI 



(S04)S 



(P04) p 



(CO3) c 



(HCO3) c 



N (free am.) 



N (alb. am.) 



Nitrites 



Nitrates 



Total solids filtered 



Unfiltered 



Loss in ignition. . . . 



Organic matter .... 



Filtered 



Unfiltered 



Mississippi 

 River' 



0.00350 

 o . 00009 

 0.00012 

 o . 00008 

 o . 00680 

 0.02950 

 0.00230 

 0.0 1 000 

 O.OI6IO 

 0.00960 

 0.00013 



.02160 



0.00016 



0.000014 



0.00023 

 o. 16750 

 I . 06900 



0.02750 

 0.07160 



Lake Supe- 

 rior" 



Sr 



o . 003 1 7 

 o . 00048 

 0.00134 

 o . 00069 

 0.00278 

 0.01280 

 bare trace 

 0.00318 

 0.00243 

 0.00124 

 B tr 

 22. 2300 



0.00077 

 0.05896 



3. Murray's 

 Average^ 



0.008370 

 0.001820 

 0.001960 

 0.002180 

 0.007850 

 0.034100 

 0.002180 

 0.005790 

 0.003100 

 O . 004540 

 0.000140 



0.013230 

 0.000065 



0.00106 

 O. I 0000 



4. Thousand 

 Tons per in Mile 



34-90 

 7.60 

 4.00 

 9. 10 



32.80 

 142.17 



24. 10 



12.91 



18.94 



0.58 



.55-2 

 basic N. 

 basic H. 



.27 

 .08 



(AcidN.) 443 

 762.587 



79 



1. C. H. Stone, Analysis of Mississippi River Water, Science, 1905, p. 472, 

 with oxygen consumed: filtered, 0.0142; unfiltered, 0.0033; hardness, 10.92; tur- 

 bidity, heavy (twice averaged); sediment, large; odor, none. 



2. Analysis of Lake Superior water. Annual Report, Geological Survey of Michi- 

 gan, 1903, p. 113. 



3. Average river water computed from Murray in grams per kilogram or liter. 



4. Average river water according to Murray, compiled from figures given by 

 Joly and Chamberlin's Geology, in thousands of tons per cubic mile. Multiply by 

 6.524 to get total yielded in millions of tons per annum. 



