234 
PROFESSOR EORCHIIAMMER ON THE COMPOSITION 
the Baltic, that I was able to determine the quantity of salt near the surface and in the 
depth, but it is very probable that similar differences also may occur in other large 
inlets of the ocean. I want, however, direct observations in sufficient number, and 
shall here only mention an observation from the Caribbean Sea, where surface-water 
contained 19-936 chlorine, and water from a depth of 1170 feet contained 19*823 per 
1000 chlorine. This difference in which the deeper water is less saline may be another 
instance of the effect of hot winds, like the water from the Mediterranean between 
Africa and the Island of Candia. 
Going on now to the main section of the ocean, we will begin with the Atlantic, 
about which we have the best information, and which seems to show the most interesting 
facts. I will state the results of my investigations in moving from Baffin’s Bay towards 
the south. In Baffin’s Bay itself the water of the surface contains the same quantity of 
salt as that of the depth, but as soon as we pass the southernmost point of Greenland, the 
water of the surface contains more salt than that from the depth. This difference 
increases in going towards the Equator, and is indeed very considerable near that line. 
About the Equator, and a little to the south of it, many irregularities appear, as, for 
instance, in one case where the strongest water was found between two weaker portions 
above and below. In other cases the quantity of salt decreased with the depth, and in 
some instances it increased with it. I shall now state the observations themselves. 
Dr. Rink; sent me water from the surface in Baffin’s Bay to the west of Disco Island, Avhich 
contained 33-594 per 1000 salt, and at the same place from a depth of 420 feet, which 
contained 33-607. The difference is so small that it signifies nothing. At the southern- 
most point of Greenland a small difference is observed, viz. in 59° 45' N. lat. and 39° 4' 
W. long., where surface-water contains 35-067, and that from a depth of 270 feet 34-963; 
but in about the same latitude and about 13° further towards W., at 59° 42' N. lat. and 
51° 20' long., the proportion was reversed, the surface-water contained 34-876 per 1000 
salt, while that from the depth contained 34-975 per 1000. From the sea between 
Iceland and Greenland (in which it appears that a returning branch of the Gulf-stream, 
the East Greenland current, runs towards the S.W.) I have obtained eight specimens 
from a depth between 1 200-1800 feet. Unfortunately no specimens of water from the 
surface were taken at the same time, but we have a sufficient number of other surface 
observations, and thus we may compare the mean numbers, which are 35*356 for the 
surface, and 35-057 for a depth between 1200-1800 feet. In comparing the single obser- 
vations of the deep water, we find that it contains the greatest quantity of salt in the 
eastern part at 35° 1' W. long., with 35-179 per 1000 salt, decreasing regularly towards 
the westernmost part of this region in 55° 40' W. long., with a quantity of salt =34-858 
per 1000. Specimens taken by Captain Gram in 59° 50' N. lat. and 7° 52' W. long., 
contained for surface-water 35-576 per 1000, and for water from 270 feet depth 
35-462. 
I have two other comparative analyses of water from the East Greenland current, of 
which I owe the specimens to Colonel Schaffner. The analyses were not made com- 
