Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-06-28
silver in the Sea.

The poet tells of the gems that shine with
"purest ray serene" in dark unfathomed caves
of ocean, but it is not in those inaccessible
depths alone that the treasure of the sea is hid
den. There is untold wealth diffused through
out the immensely of its waters, as secure from
human aVarce as if it were in the ADVISES
which plummet never sounded. Its very diffu-
sion puts it out of our reach. The fact that it
is everywhere puts it practically nowhere.
Some years ago, certain French chemists de-
monstrated that sea water contains an appre-
ciable amount Of silver. They decided that if
1t IS equally distributed, there must be at least
two millions of tons of the precious metal in
the whole ocean, or more than has ever been
dug from the earth. And experiments made at
widely distant points, prove that the metal is
thus uniformly diffused. The water of the
Pacific OF the coast of Chile, as analysed by an
English chemist, gives the same result as the
Frenchman had obtained from the waters of the
British channel.
The silver in the sea is only one out of a thou
sand Illustrations Of solid substances made in
visible by chemical processes. Aud we must
not suppose that it is only minute quantities
OF matter that can be thus lost to sight in trans
parent liquid. A silver half-dollar Ia mythical
piece OF money to our young readers, but the
old folks can tell them how large it is, or was J
can be dissolved in very small amount of nj
tnc acid, which, if pure, is colorless liquid
Coin soon vanishes, and the liquid is as clear
and transparent as ever. Many dollars worth
vi ohNSi iHlSul iuuS Uc III n nallOn oil
what would seem to be nothing but water.
Other metals, and, indeed, solid substances of
all Kinds, may be dissolved and made to disap-
pear in a similar way.
There is no visible form of matter which
chemical agencies may not render invisible.
What we commonly call the destruction of MAJ
ter is merely this metamorphosis from the seen
TO the unseen. When wood or anything else is
burned it has simply undergone a chemical
change which removes it from our sight. Not a
particle OF matter can be really destroyed, un-
less by the power that called il into existence
The silver in our transparent liquid is not ami
Inflated if wepour it into the sea it is lost to us,
but the silver is there, like the millions of tons
Of kindred metal that were already mingled
with the waters.
In like manner, the coal and wood we burn,
except the small reSldium of ashes, have be-
come yiewless gases, and are blended with the
aerial ocean of the atmosphere. On the clear
est day, the air above us is ladened with thou
sands OF tons of carbon in this transparent con-
diilon. II is there, though we cannot see it,
and plants are continually turning ii back into
visible form again. This is the key to the mys-
terry of their growth, which is mainly the with
drawing of carbon from its gaseous state OF car
bonic acid and making it a part Of their own
structure.
We have said that the silver in the sea is use
less, because 1t is diffused through so large
bulk OF fluid. But the fact that it has been
possible TO detect it, when thus dffused, shows
that II chemical agencies can make solid sub
stances vanish from our sight, they can, on the
other hand, compel a body thus concealed to
show ITSELF even when it forms only the minut-
est proportion of the mixture. The delicacy of
chemical tests is almost beyond belief A sim
| gle drop of colorless fluid may nstantaneously
produce well defined red, or blue or yellow
throughout the entire mass of the latter; and
| yet it may be less than the hundredth part Of a
| gram OF some solid substance in solution, that
/ IS made TO give such unmistakable evidence of
! its presence, Boston Journal Of Chemistry,