SALTNESS OP THE SEA. 
19 
. 6 dle> ^- be wa ^ er °f the Dead Sea is, according to these pro- 
1 10 ns, the richest natural depository of bromide, which it might 
nan to tarnish abundantly. The waters of the great Lake Utah and 
ake Ourmiah in Persia are both highly saline. In Lake Ornmiah, as 
m the Dead Sea, the proportion of salt is six times greater than in the 
an. Main oi our fresh-water lakes were probably salt originally, but 
iave by degrees lost their saline proper-ties by the mingling of' their 
wa ers with those of the rivers which traverse or flow into them. 
mong the lakes which appear to have been divested of their saline 
properties may be mentioned the great lakes ol Canada and the Sea of 
f ■ f ’ m a . ot whlch seals and other marine animals arc still found, 
Inch have become acclimatized as the water gradually became fresh. 
its b n " ^ ^ mCreaSeS its densit D and at the same time 
its PtlQS 14 f ° r beariQg sH P 8 and other burdens on 
‘^he^h^ TOVOT ^ to « a ^ reVi, ‘ te SlisMly fury’s remark, 
hi me ot the ocean is the ley of the earth.” From it the sea derives 
i—? T"' “ d *•«— *« gl rT' X X 
le sea that imparts to its waters those curious anomalies in the laws 
of freezing and of thermal dilatation, that assist the rl of W 7 
penetrate its bosom; the salts of the sea invest S * 
w ich fresh water could not possess. In the latter case, the maximum 
density would be thirty-nine degrees five seconds instead of twenty- 
de o re ® s S1X seconds, when the dynamical force of the sea would be 
insufficient to put the Gulf Stream in motion. Nor could it regulate 
those climates we call marine. 
We have said that sea water contains nearly all the soluble sub- 
stances winch exist in the idohe “ r i i i , , 
(.1 ,, v '■ dhe water which evaporates from 
S „vT ,°T n - “ * * <*"*«•’ “ - vJ, containing 
f -fc. as rain upon the laud, it 
rCtdtiil / , 7 thr °" 8 ’ 1 "* r “ k I «* t«»mcs 
charged with saline substances, which are home seaward b V the 
returning currents. The ocean, therefore, is the great depository of 
j 8ubstences water can dissolve and carry down from the surface 
the continents; and, as there is no channel for their escape they 
inhlhdT y T™ 1 ^’ Were 14 n0t for the crea tui‘es which 
“ • n >MI am brought within ft* 
h ' lhese ^stances are chloride of sodium or marine salt, 
