The Ionic Phase of the Sea. 
•248 
solar radiation. There is no such tiling conceivable as a molecular 
anabolyte; vast energy is not required to dissociate H 2 0 molecules 
to build up the living substance ; they are provided in “ dissociated ” 
form, and all other anabolic requisites similarly. Theories of 
photosynthesis involving molecular conceptions also require to be 
scrapped. There is little “ CO, 2 ” in the sea; the ions of H 2 C0 3 are 
H', HCO,',and C0 3 ". Experimental observations on the action 
for example, of radium or ultra-violet light on C0 2 , on land, or in 
air, and the synthesis of formaldehyde, have as little to do with 
the primary problems of photosynthesis as Bastian’s observations 
on “ spontanous generation ” in boiled solutions of beef-tea had to 
do with the direct synthesis of protoplasm. There is only one 
thing to be considered,—The ultimate structure and organization 
of sea-water, with regard to its ionic content: all molecules are but 
a reserve on which to draw, as existing ions may be segregated in the 
higher expression of organization we call living entities. 
From the known composition of aqueous protoplasm (about 
90% water), it would follow that the ions of ordinary sea-water 
would suffice at any given moment, without renewal, to supply 
500 tons of living ionic matter per cubic mile; without allowing 
lor vast quantities of inevitable molecular debris. While there is 
no present reason to suppose that cytoplasm in sea-water presents 
a higher coefficient of ionization than the medium itself (3%), it is 
interesting to note that the net amount of primary autotrophic 
organism in the sea is appreciably within the scope of such an 
estimate; and one part in ten million may be even suggested as a 
possible average “plankton-rate” for autotrophic organism in 
British Seas. For example, the amount of cytoplasm in a flagellated 
algal zoid, approximately 5/x diam., and lOOc/* in volume, at a 
plankton-rate of a million per litre, may be visualized as one part in 
ten million of the medium. Allen (1919) from cultural observations 
(Plymouth Sound) suggests the possibility of a million autotrophic 
organisms per litre; these being mostly Diatoms, and their cyto¬ 
plasmic value still obscure. Lohmann (1908) for the nutritive waters 
of Kiel Bay (August), gives maximum “ autotrophic ” plankton as 
equivalent to a total volume of 105.4 c.mm per 100 litres, or little 
more than 10 times this amount (and his figures include holozoic 
Peridiniaceae and Flagellates): no other estimate approaches this. 
A further very special biological interest is associated with the 
connection between the ions of carbonic acid and those of the 
water as expressed in the conception of Sorensen and Palitzsch 
