Vol. 65.] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. ci 



however, to compensate for the rich supplies received by the western 

 rivers of that continent. 1 



We might perhaps hope to obtain a minimum estimate of the 

 contributions made by freshly liberated sodium to the sea, by 

 excluding all that part of it which exists in combination as chloride, 

 or rather so much of it as corresponds to the ratio of sodium to 

 chlorine in existing ocean- water, that is 0*6502 of sodium to 1 of 

 chlorine. By this procedure, however, a good deal of sodium 

 which ought to be taken into account, such as that supplied by hot 

 springs, would be excluded. Still, I have thought it worth while 

 to make calcuations on this basis, with the results shown in the 

 following table : — 



Tabee V. 



Bivcr. Sodium. Silica. 



St. Lawrence 1,093,000 5,000,000 



Androscoggin 3,537 25,750 



Merrimae 8,187 115,760 



Oroton 68 1,907 



Mohawk 12,285 35,300 



Potomac 37,520 



Delaware 14,913 86,800 



James 16,235 89,055 



Cahaba 2,990 74,350 



Mississippi 1,322,550 6,094,000 



Grande del Norte 33,700 19,480 



Pecos 14,640 2,890 



Colorado 1,832,000 502,200 



Cedar 1,060 



Snake 74,410 



Sacramento 211,960 582,800 



4,640,475 12,668,872 



The total quantity of sodium (not combined with chlorine) is 

 4,640,475 tons, contained in 227 - 659 cubic miles of river-water : 

 this gives 20,400 tons to one cubic mile. Substituting this for 



1 On this point reference may be made to Mr. Fisher's analyses of the 

 quarry-water contained in deep-seated Chalk and Jurassic Limestones (Analyst, 

 August, 1901 ; vol. xxix, 1904, pp. 29-44). The Rev. O. Fisher (loc. cit.) has 

 called attention to the mother-liquor in sedimentary rocks, which he attributes, 

 probably with justice, to ancient sea-water. Mr. Lane does the same (A. C. 

 Lane, ' Salt- Water in the Lake Mines ' Portage Lake Mining Gazette, Houghton, 

 Mich., separate copy, no date, 1908 ?). But it is very unlikely that this mother- 

 liquor enters to any large extent into the composition of river-water. 



