Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1864-12-15
VOLUME XIV.

Ter, q vast cauldrOn or WnlflpOOl as IL mas
been named deriving its force of progress,
sion from the accumulated waters of the
gulf and from the peculiar confguration
and position of the West India Islands, and
circling the broad Atlantic as belt of heat
dispensing life TO the nations.
But we cannot linger to Lotice the other
currents which abound in the ocean, neither
can we discuss the tides. Wewill however,
say a few words upon the saltness of ocean
water, though we know not its cause not
eehy Providence has so designed it. 1t has
been presumed that the salt held III solu-
ton by the water Of the ocean preserved
it from putrefacton, and yet the water at
rest does become putresent. Any sailor will
tell you that AS Coleridge expresses it,
" the very deep doth rot"
The water Of the ocean holds in solution
nearly four per cent. of its weight Of salt,
and it is estimated, that the volume of its
whole mass is more than three millions of
cubic miles, or bulk equal to five times
that of the Alps. DR.. Beck, of New York,
says that itrequires three hundred and fifty
gallons of sea water to make bushel Of
! salt, while, of the brine of the Onondaga
Salt Springs, it needs but from thirty to
thirty-fve gallons for the same object.
| Those portions of sea water nearest the
the Tropic circles contain more salt than
those nearer the Equator, or even the poles,
! and the Mediterranean sea contains more
than the Atlantic. The evaporation from
the surface is greater in the Mediterranean
than in any other body of water of the
same size upon the globe, consequently,
more salt is retained in the water which re-
mains in the bed, and if this be true, that
sea is being slowly changed to a bed of
salt.
There are some parts Of the broad ex-
panse of ocean which are comparatively
free of salt, and these have even been
known to supply ships with fresh article
when much needed. We can account for
this only on the supposition that the ocean,
Just there, was shallow and that spring
of fresh water was bubbling up from the
bottom.
The ocean is undoubtedly the source of
the salt found beneath the surface, whether
in solid form as in the salt-mines of Poland,
Spain, England, America, &c, OF in the
brine springs of New York, and other
places. 1t was probably deposited in its
present beds by some old ancient ocean,
that rolled its waters were we now stand,
and told its existence only by the rocks,
Goals, metals and minerals it precipitatcd
at its bottom, and which the energy and
enterprise Of man, millions Of years later,
is converting to the good Of the race.
Beside the sediment detached from con-
tinents by the action of rivers, there is an
other agent which is gradually obliterating
or filling up the ocean bed, and one still
more effective in the work. In some seas,
especially those situated in the tropics,
minute animal is constantly absorbing the
lime Of the sea water, as we'll as the organ
ic impurities with which it abounds, and
lcM It building up islands in the midst of the
watery waste-islands, which commencing
from minute centers enlarge by the accrc-
tive industry Of these apparently insignifi-
cant coral animals, and in long periods of
time become great continents, clothed with
verdure and the home of civilization and
refinement Is it not too much to say, that
already the foundations Of a new one is
laid, and its outposts defined. In the Paci-
fic ocean there are groups of coral islands
and reefs Of coral rock of hundreds, and in
a single instance, of a thousand miles in
extent, the sole work of coralline zoophy-
tes, and many good ship with its freight
Of human life, encountering a barrier Of
coral rock, has been sent to the bottom and
made no sign. We not only know that by
such means as these the bed of the ocean is
filling with solid matter, but that the con-
tinent we inhabit was formed, in part, in
the same way In all the stratiied rocks
from the lowest to the highest are found
abundant traces Of coral action and indus
try, especially in all the limestone rocks
and chalk formations in every portion OF
the globe, whether in Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Illinois, or in the chalk cliffs of England,
Germany, and New Holland Indeed, there
is no doubt but that the mountain forma
tions, ererychere which are not granite.
owe their origin to the two agencies men
toned, to wit: the sediment of rivers de-
posted by and the coral zoophytes working
their unceasing work IN pre-adamite ocean.
\ thousand million years will fail to meas
ure the perpetuated life of this animal
This animal not only appropriates to its
work the time it finds in the surrounding
water, but it also seizes upon all the organic
matter which arises from animal and veget-
able putrefaction, and i'll this way, the
ocean is cleansed from all these impurities
which in process of time would accumulate
and poison it's whole mass
We may close this paper by noticing that
singular appearance of the ocean which, by
some, has been termed IFS nhOSnhOrnScancn