26 



directly by the sea-water, for if this were the case, a gradual 

 sorting of the material must take place, as is seen in so many 

 other places. What other causes can have produced this 

 strange result I shall not here enquire; we can only imagine 

 two other ways in which the coarser ingredients can have got 

 into the samples, viz. either from the ice or from pre-existing 

 solid or loose rocks at the bottom of the sea; but which of 

 the two causes is the more likely can only be determined by a 

 closer examination of the mineralogicai constituents of the 

 samples. 



The consistency of the samples varies very much, as will 

 be seen by the table, and the same is the case with their 

 degree of coherence when dry. This last property is nearly 

 proportional to the amount of clay in the samples, as we have 

 been already led to expect. There are however a few rather 

 characteristic deviations from this rule, and even if the degree 

 of coherence cannot be directly measured, but is only founded 

 upon a rough estimate, these deviations are so conspicuous 

 that they may be considered as definitely proved. Thus sample 

 No. 28 which is designated «exceedingly coherent» contains a 

 large amount of sand, and shows, as will be seen from the 

 following table only 47.7 per ct. of its ingredients to be below 

 0.01"™. Neither does Nr. 22, which is about the most coherent 

 of all the samples, contain much clay; but it contains 49.1 per ct. 

 of finer ingredients. Let us on the other hand consider Nos. 26 

 and 27 which are only designated «rather coherent», and yet 

 they contain as many of the finer ingredients as the preceeding 

 ones viz. 42.4 and 47.5 per ct. respectively. Moreover No. 43 

 is designated very coherent, although it is about the finest 

 of all the samples with 76.6 per ct. clay. As all the samples 

 were collected and kept in exactly in the same manner, the 

 variations of the degree of coherence cannot be due to these 

 circumstances, and must therefore be founded on the differences 

 in the nature of the clay itself. It is impossible to say for 



