Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-07-29
SILVER FROM THE OCEAN.

The poet il often, uncOnsciOusly. a prophet.
His brilliant fdncies and beautiful word firurcs
are found, perhaps long after their utterance
u express not merely imaginary, but actual
qualities in things. Thus, such a phrase as the
"sllvery spray Of the ocean wave, has been re-
Sarded as but n poetical expression. yet it en-
b0ileS n scientific truth. Experiments have
been made by three French chemists, and their
experiments have led them to the conclusion
that the ocean contains not less than two mil
lions Of tuns Of silver. They took water from
the coast Of ST. MalO and subjected il To chemi-
cal analysis. One portion of the water they
acted upon by the usual tests to detect the
presence of silver. and the presence of that
metal was clearly ascertained
Another portion of the water they evaporated
and the salt which they obtained they boiled
with lead. This lump OF impure lead they
placed on a saucer made of lime, and then APP
piled heat sufficient to melt the lead, but not to
affect the silver should any be present The
lead as il melted was absorbed by the porous
saucer. and finally sIuHll globule Of silver
gllstened in the saucer. They repeated the ex-
pertinent several times with the same success
and from three experiments, estimating the
quantity Of water tested, and the amount of
silver obtained, they calculated that cubic
mile OF ocean water contains two pounds and
tIree-guaTteIs of silver.
Following up this discovery, they made other
experiments. They gathered quantity of sea
weeds known 10 bOtanlStS is tLcL, selecting
these because they have no roots 10 insert in
the rocks, and must derive all their aIiInent
from the sea. These Seaweeds they analyZel
and found 10 he twenty-six times richer i'm sill
yer than the water itself The results of the
Ercnchmen . experiments attracted the ntten-
tIOn of Mr.. Frederick Field, an English assayer
of silver IN China, and he commenced a series
ot experiments IN the copper shelthing Of yes-
Sel-, believing that II the sea contained silver
hC would ind II Oh the bottoms of vessels which
had been at Sc In one experiment he obtained
from portion OF the sheathing of a vessel wbich
had been trading for seven years on the Pacifc
Two grains If silver for every five thousand
grams Of the copper sheathing
lie next took from the cabin Of another vessel
piece Of metal which had never been exposed
- water. and another piece of equal weight
from the hull, which had been three wears at
The metal from the hull yielded eight
Times ~ much silver "a the metal taken from
The cabin. The experiments were varied, with
the same results. These experiments led TO
others, on other substances. and il was found
that silver existed in appreciable quantities in
trees and plants, and in the blood Of animals
a we'll IA IN water The explanation given Of
these ffhenOn4ena II. that the sulphide uf silver
A. very widely difused in nature Salt water
attack" the sulphilc and converts it into chic
ride Of silver, which dis5Olyes by the agency of
common salt The common salt contained in
tine water Of the earth acts in a similar manner.
dl-sOlying out small quantities of metal, which
IL transfers to plants and from plants il is re-
celyed by animals in their food