16 



AUTIFICIAL SEA-WATER. 



— total, 5ld. per gallon. Of course if a larger 

 quantity were made tlie cost of the materials would 

 be diminished, so that we may set down 5d, per 

 gallon as the maximum cost of sea-water thus 

 made.* The trouble is nothing, and no professional 

 skill is requisite. 



^'My manufacture was made on the 21st of 

 April, 1854. The following day I poured off about 

 half of the quantity made (filtering it through a 

 sponge in a glass funnel) into a confectioner's show- 

 glass. I put in a bottom of small shore-pebbles, 

 well washed in fresh water, and one or two frag- 

 ments of stone with fronds of green sea-weed 

 ( Ulva latissima) growing thereon. I would not at 

 once venture upon the admission of animals, as I 

 wished the water to be first somewhat impregnated 

 with the scattered spores of the Ulva; and I 

 thought that if any subtle elements were thrown 

 off from growing vegetables, the water should have 

 the advantage of it, before the entrance of animal 

 life. This, too, is the order of nature ; plants first, 

 then animals. 



A coating of the green spores was soon depo- 

 sited on the sides of the glass, and bubbles of 

 oxygen were copiously thrown off every day under 

 the excitement of the sun's light. After a week, 

 therefore, I ventured to put in animals as follows: — 



2 Actinia mesemlryanthemum. Coryne ramosa. 

 7 Serpula triquetra. Crisia ehurnea. 



3 Balanus halanoides. ' aculeata. 



2 Sahella ? Cellepora pumicosa. 



2 Scibellaria {alveolata ?) Celhdaria ciliata. 



2 Spio vulgaris. Boiverhankia imbricata, 



1 Cynthia {quadrangularis ?) Pedicellina Belgica. 



* This was considerably over-rated : the cost is probably about 

 Z\d. per gallon. 



