ON THE WATER OF THE IRISH SEA. 287 



XXIV. On the Composition of the Water of the Irish Sea. 

 By T. E. Thorpe, Ph.D., and E. H. Morton. 



Eead March 22nd, 1870. 



Thanks to the investigations of Forchhammer, Von Bibra, 

 Bischof, and others, our knowledge concerning the nature 

 and distribution of the saline constituents of sea-water, 

 and of the causes of the variations in its composition as 

 observed in various parts of the world, is tolerably exten- 

 sive and precise. English chemists, however, have con- 

 tributed next to nothing to the general stock of our in- 

 formation on this subject. This is not a little remarkable, 

 especially when we consider the peculiarly favourable con- 

 dition in which this country is placed for researches of this 

 kind, by reason of its insular position. A few observations 

 by John Davy, made in the course of his long voyages, 

 two memoirs by Marcet in the ' Philosophical Transac- 

 tions^ for 18 19 and 1822, on the temperature and saltness 

 of various seas, and an elaborate analysis by Schweitzer of 

 the water of the English Channel, made in 1838"^, con- 

 stitute by far the chief portion of the work done in this 

 direction by English chemists. The chemical history of 

 the sea is mainly to be derived from the researches and 

 observations of chemists, principally French and German, 

 the majority of whom were located at considerable dis- 

 tances from the sea-board, and who laboured, therefore, 

 under all the disadvantages which this circumstance neces- 

 sarily entails. 



So far as we can learn, the water of the Irish Channel 

 has never been analyzed. We have been induced, there- 



* Phil. Mag. XV. 1839. 



