208 Miscellanies. 
cylinder, it was unscrewed and weighed, to ascertain the amount of 
carbonic acid it contained. ‘This was done several times, until found to 
be increased in weight by nine and a half ounces of acid, when it was 
detached as in fig. 3, and the cock J, in which is an aperture of scarce- 
ly more than a pin’s diameter, was sheathed by g of fig. 4. ‘Thus ar- 
ranged, one operator holding the solidifying apparatus in his two hands 
by the double cylindrical handles 77, 17, and the other unscrewing the 
valve at f, the acid rushed through the cock into fig. 4. The vaporiz- 
ed portions escaped through h, while the jet was continued some twenty 
seconds, and the solid snow-like ball was found to quite fill the vessel. 
Fig. 4 opens in the middle, and while the solid acid lies in one half, the 
other may be used to remove it in smaller quantities. 
When the first supply was exhausted, the jet was opened anew and 
the apparatus fig. 4, partly filled a second time. This was repeated 
several times, but less and less solid acid was produced with each suc- 
ceeding trial. 
A little bath of ether and carbonic acid gave solid mereury as usual. 
Several chemical compounds hitherto unexperimented upon, were 
brought in by the class and frozen. Among these I remember styrol, 
aldehyde, nitrous acid, (previously a green liquid, gave beautiful erys- 
tals) sulphurous acid, valerianic acid, chloro-chromic acid and nitro-bro- 
mic acid.(?) One of the bodies of the benzoyl series was not frozen. 
The instrument was made by C. E. Kraft, in Vienna. 
Respectfully yours, BE. N. Hosrorp. 
3. Remarks on the saltiness of the Ocean, and the effects of light on 
turbid waters ; by the Rev. Hector Humpureys, President of the Col- 
lege at Annapolis, Md.—The question is often asked, how the ocean be- 
came salt. I believe that it was made so in the beginning. It is doubtless 
the great purifier of the waters on the globe ; but I have never seen a good 
explanation of the mode of its action. The sun’s light passes through 
pure water, without heating it. Is not its effect on the ocean due to the 
salt combined with its waters? In rivers which carry sediment, the 
light is arrested by the floating particles, which are thus warmed, and 
impart heat to the water. This accounts for the quick evaporation of 
turbid streams, such as the Red River, whose size is not enlarged by 
many considerable tributaries, in a thousand miles of its course. This 
extraordinary evaporation in that stream, may be owing in part, to the 
earthy matter in the current thus arresting the light. If we throw the 
focus of a burning glass into distilled water, no heat is communicated, 
unless some substance is placed there to receive the rays. The salt, 
with which the waters of the ocean are charged, has a strong affinity for 
heat; and thus keeps its mean temperature higher than that of other 
iii 
