On Artificial Sea Water. 4573 



On Artificial Sea Water. By Robert Warington, Esq. 



In the 'Zoologist' for August last (Zool. 4400) appeared a short 

 communication from Mr. Gosse, on the artificial formation of sea 

 water, and having lately had my attention especially directed to this 

 paper by a friend who wished to put the formula given into practice, 

 I was surprised at the difference in the proportions of the ingredients 

 as compared with what I had myself employed in the course of 1853, 

 more particularly from the circumstance, that when Mr. Gosse called 

 upon me in January last, and consulted me on the feasibility of the 

 plan, I told him that there could be no difficulty in the matter, as I 

 had made and had then in use several small quantities artificially pro- 

 duced, and that all that was required was that a good analysis should 

 be taken as the basis for deducing the proportions, and at the same 

 time referred him to the source from which I myself had worked, 

 namely, Dr. E. Schweitzer's analysis of the water of the English 

 Channel, taken off Brighton. 



Now, as numerous parties have been inquiring respecting this sub- 

 ject, and the erroneous formula has been copied into other journals, it 

 may prevent much annoyance as well as disappointment if this matter 

 is set right. The error appears to be twofold, the one arising from 

 miscalculation, the other from assuming that the sulphate of magnesia, 

 as given in the analysis, represented the ordinary crystallized salt, and 

 not the anhydrous sulphate, which is always the case in giving ana- 

 lytical results, and which is, indeed, so specified by Dr. Schweitzer in 

 his paper, when he states that the dry residue obtained by the evapora- 

 tion of 1000 grains of water amounts to 35*25628 grains, consisting of 

 the following ingredients : — 



Chloride of sodium 27 05948 grains. 



„ of magnesium 3*66658 „ 



„ of potassium 0*76552 „ 



Bromide of magnesium 02929 „ 



Sulphate of magnesia 2*29578 „ 



Carbonate of lime 003301 „ 



Sulphate of lime 1*40662 „ 



Now, as these results all stand in the same denomination, grains, it 



is competent for us to treat them as pounds, ounces, or any other 



weight that may best suit our purpose, and as the decimal notation is 



so readily capable of facilitating these deductions, there is no difficulty 



XIIT. G 



