og Differentserne ere saaledes ogsaa lier vel paa viselige' om 
end mindre end i Overfladen. For tydeligt at kunne mar- 
kere disse optrædende Differentser paa en let overskuelig 
Maade, har jeg benyttet forskjellige Farver. Saaledes ere 
de Strøg, hvor Saltgehalten beløber sig til 3.50 °/o eller 
derunder, betegnede med blaa Farve, de Strøg, hvor Salt- 
gehalten ligger mellem 3.50 og 3.55 °/ 0 . med rød F arve, 
medens de Vandmasser, der ifølge Observationerne besidde 
en Saltmængde af over 3.55 °/ 0 , ere tegnede med en noget 
kraftigere rød Farve. I Nærheden af Kysterne er Kartet 
overalt ufarvet uden Hensyn til. om Våndet der henhører 
under den ene eller den anden af de tre Hovedgrupper. 
Den uregelmæssige .Fordeling af Saltgehalten i de 
større Dyb, som det saaledes tegnede Kart udviser. maa 
unegtelig -betegnes som meget paafaldende. At Saltmæng- 
derne paa Bankerue og i den sydlige Del af Østhavet paa 
det Nærmeste tindes at svare til den, som det i Overfladen 
svømmende varme Atlanterhavsvand besidder, kan ikke 
synes overraskende. Havet er her meget grundt, og det 
deri fiydende Vand besidder overalt en Temperatur af over 
0" og maa saaledes nærmest henføres til den nordover fly- 
dende Atlanterhavsstrøm, med hvilken det da ogsaa helt 
naturligt har Saltgehalt tilfælles. Ligeoverfor de store Dyb 
maatte man derimod paa Forhaand vente et andet Resul- 
tat. Temperaturen ligger her uden Uudtagelse under 0” 
ja paa de fleste Steder endog under — 1", og det kunde 
derfor synes rimeligst at tilskrive det der fiydende \ and 
polar Oprindelse. Det fremgaar imidlertid med Bestemt- 
hed af alle mig bekjendte Undersøgelser over Saltmæng- 
derne i de forskjellige Have, at de fra arktiske Egne ud- 
gaaende Strømme uden Uudtagelse fører ^ and at lavere 
Saltgehalt end de fra de mere tempereredé Himmelstrøg 
udgaaende Varmvandsstrømme, og man skulde derfor i de 
dybere og koldere Lag af det her undersøgte Hav vente 
at finde en Vand masse med adskilligt lavere Saltgehalt end 
den, der er funden i det i Overfladen og nærmest under 
den fiydende Vand. som aabenbart skriver sig fra varmere 
Egne. Hvad der virkelig finder Sted er desuagtet dette, 
at det i de dybere liggende Lag fiydende, iskolde Vand 
paa store Strækninger viser sig at have en Saltgehalt, der 
temmelig nøie svarer til den, der er funden i den atlan- 
tiske Overtladestrøm. 
Saavel af denne Grand som ogsaa af andre Grunde, 
som jeg senere skal fremføre, tinder jeg det nmeligt at 
gjøre del Antagelse, at Våndet paa de større Dyb paa de 
Steder, som i Kartet tindes aflagte med rød Farve, enten 
udelukkeude skriver sig fra varmere Egne eller under en- 
hver Omstændighed er saa opblandet med saadant \and. 
at det Hele derved antager en tydelig atlantisk Karakter, 
medens Våndet i de med blaa Farve betegnede Stræknin- 
ger mere eller mindre skarpt udpræger sig som hidrørende 
fra polar Oprindelse. • 
Hvor det gjælder at besvare Spørgsmaalet om. hvor- 
ledes de øvre Lag finder Vei ned til Bunden. da synes 
dette ikke at kunne besvares paa anden Maade, end at det 
atlantiske Vand under stadig Afkjøling maa synke gjen- 
nem det iskolde og fordrive dette, under enhver Omstæn- 
cent: and there tod, accordingly, the differences are appre- 
ciable, though smaller than at the surface. For the better 
apprehension of these differences, the sections in which 
I they occur have been differently coloured in the Plato: 
blue indicates a percentage of 3.50, and under; red, a per- 
centage ranging from 3.50 to 3.55; and a somewhat deeper 
! red, a higher percentage than 3.55. Along the coasts, the 
Plate is left uncoloured, no matter to which of the three 
principal groups the water there belongs. 
This irregular distribution of the amount of salt at 
great depths, as shown in the Plate, is certainly a most 
remarkable phenomenon. That the proportion of salt on 
the banks and in the southern portion of Barents' Sea 
should agree pretty closely with that contained in the warm 
surface-water of the Atlantic, is not indeed surprising: the 
depth is in both localities comparatively trifling, and the 
water, having everywhere a temperature above 0°, must 
be referred to the warm Atlantic current; its percentage 
of salt is therefore naturally the same as that of the Gulf 
Stream. For the great depths, on the other hand, 
there was reason to expect a very different result. Here, 
the temperature is without exception below 0°, nay inmost 
places below —1°; and hence,, as regards the origin of 
such water, there seems much to urge in favour ot an in- 
draught from the Polar Sea. Of the observations undertaken 
to determine the amount ot salt in sea-water, all with 
which l am acquainted furnish incontestible proof that the 
water of the currents flowing from the Arctic Ocean has 
a lower percentage of salt than that of the warm currents 
flowing from more temperate regions; and the proportion 
of salt in the deeper and colder strata of the tract oi 
ocean explored by the Expedition was expected, therefore, 
to prove considerably lower than that observed at the sur- 
face or a short distance beneath it, where the water is ob- 
viously an influx from warmer climes. But such was not 
the case, for the amount of salt found in the water of the 
cold area, where the temperature is below zero, agrees, 
in some localities, pretty closely with that in the water of 
the Atlanic surface-current. 
This phenomenon, in conjunction with reasons that 
will afterwards be explained, has led me to assume, that 
the water met with at great depths in the sections coloured 
red in the Plato, is either exclusively the result of an in- 
flux from warmer regions, or is. at least, so mixed with 
such water as to have distinctly acquired Atlantic charac- 
teristics: whereas the water in the blue-coloured sections 
would seem to indicate more or less determinately a Polar 
origin. 
As to the question involved in the descent ot the 
upper strata to the bottom, the only 'way in which this 
can take place seems to be by tin* Atlantic- surface-water, 
as it parts with its excess of heat, gradually sinking through 
the water of the cold area, and displacing it: at all events, 
