Cheraw gazette. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1835-1838, 1837-01-17

there is very considerable difference in
the sadness of the sea, even where the
waves arc continually meeting and ming
ling. Asa general rule, however, in going
from the equator to the poles, the sadness
of the sea dminishcs. 1t has also in
many places been found that the water on
the surface of the ocean is less salt than on
the bottom. Some of these variations are
easily accounted for; others at present are
entirely unknown. ispertcctly natural that
Il bay. INTO which large rivers are consts=ss
ly pouring a supply of fresh water, slioEas
not be so salt rs other parts of the ocean.
But why there should be difference be.
tween the tropical and arctic seas, or be-.
tween the surface and the depths of the
ocean in this respect, no satisfactory rea-
son has as yet been assigned.
Neither is it easy to discover the origin
of the slirncss of the sea. The bcncfccn:
design Of our Creator is manifest in this
arrangement, as without this sadness and
the continued agitation produced by the
winds. tides ard currents; the water would
become tainted, and the ocean would prove
the bodnjEcss reservoir Of contagion and
death. But whence comes this sadness
Some have supposed it proceeds from im-
mcnsc beds OF salt, in the bottom of the
ocean. Such beds have indeed been
found, but they appear TO be rather deposits
of salt, which the ocean has formed by
precipitation. Instead Of being the Cause,
they arc the effects of the oceans sadness.
The corruption Of river wacr has been
ab<urdIy assigned as the cause. BY this
theory tho ocean is represented as vast
lake, filled by the ccaseless flow of rivers
Of fresh water, which by corruption has
become salt aud brackish. This theory
originated from the fact that the fresh water
which is discharged in;o close lakes, by
some process OF decomposition deposits
salt. 1t is however said, that if this were
the cause of the sadness of7the ocean, it
would be continually growing more salt;
aud there is no evidence that this is the
fact. This opinion was first advanced by
Haley, a celebrated English philosopher,
and he inclined 10 the opinion that there
was a progressive increase, though ncccs.
sariiy very slow. Several modern phil
osophcrs,' says MaItc Brun, 'considcr the
sea as the residuum Of primitive fluid,
which MUS: have held in solution all the
substances Of which the globe is composed;
that these sea waters having deposited all
the car'hy principles both acid and metallic
with which they were impregnatcd there
remains in their rcsiduum (Which is the
present saa) some Of these elementary
principles too Intimately combined with Wa
ter to escape from It; and with respect to
the bitterness of sea waters, rs it dimn-
ishcs in proportion 10 the depth. itcan arise
solely from the great quantity of dccom-
posed and purifying ANIMALS and vegetable
substances which float in the ocean, and
which the running waters never cease to
bring into it, This is Il kind of phoso-
phising in which we can place but little
confidence, for its basis is supposiion no
fact. Men are generally unwilling 10 &C.
knowledge ignorance, and the pride Of
human reason is more gratiGed with any
theory, if it have but the air of philosophy,
than with none at al.-Scientifc Tracts.