WATER OF THE SEA. S8^ 



are questions not necessary now to be answered. It is suffi- Observatrcus 

 cient to observe that it is kept sweet and guarded against offen- gpecUn^lf" 

 siveness and corruption by the great quantity of c/AaZi/je component 

 matter it contains. The ocean may indeed be considered as fjf sea^^vatet'^^*^ 

 containing some portion of every thing which water is capa- and the usofnl 

 ble of containing or dissolving, and its water is therefore found »? ^ a^!^*^'*^ "^^ 

 to furnish different results on analysis, when taken up fronai 

 different depths and in different latitudes, 



Yet various as the composition of ocean-water is, it always 

 contains soda, magnesia and lime, in quantity considerable 

 enough to be easily detected. Of these soda is the most 

 abundant. Magnesia is next in quantity. And Ume, thougli 

 plentiful, is believed to exist in smaller proportion than 

 either. 



The alkaline matter so plentifully dispersed through the 

 ■water of the ocean, exerts its customary neutralizing power 

 after the same manner and according to t}i,e same laws which 

 govern its several kinds on the land and in other places. 



The acids commonly present in ocean-water are the suh 

 phuric, the septic and the muriatic. The former of these 

 exists apparently in small quantity, and is only mentioned 

 because in some experiments it has been said to have been, 

 obtained from it in the form of a sulphate of lime, though ac- 

 cording to the law of attractions, we might expect to find in 

 it sulphate of soda. The vast amount of animal matter 

 existing in the sea, would lead one h. priori to a persuasior* 

 that in certain cases, particularly along marshes and shores 

 were the stagnating water was much he^ated, putrefaction would 

 engender septic acid, and this would in some measure mingle 

 with the water in its vicinity, and not fly away wholly in 

 vapour. The quantity of this acid is so considerable in 

 some coves and bays where salt works have been established, 

 that a quantity of it adheres to the muriate of soda ox com- 

 mon salt and vitiates its quality. And this happens in some 

 situations to so high .a degree, that Neumman (Chemical 

 Works by Lewis, p. 2>9^,) takes notice of it, observing " that 

 sea water often contains a nitrous matter, the acid spirit dis- 

 tilled from sea salt proving a menstruv?H for gold, -winch 

 l^e marine acid by itself never docs, and which nothing bu^ 



th^ 



