The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1871-07-19
Silver in the Sea.

The poet tells us of the gems that
shine with "purest ray serene" in dark
untathomed caves of ocean; but it is t
not in these inaccessible depths alone t
that the treasure of the sea is hidden. t
There is untold wealth d fuse
throughout the immensely of its water. i;
as secure from human avarice as if it
were in the abysses which plummet
never sounded. Its very diffusion puts
it out of our reach. The fact that it is
everywhere makes it practically no.
where. Some years ago, certain
French chemists demonstrated that
sea water contains an appreciable
amount of silver. They decided that,
if it 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 wide-
" distant points, prove that the metal
is thus uniformly diffused. The wa
ter of the Pacific off the coast ct Chill,
as analysed by an English chemist,
gives the same result as the French
man had obtained from the waters of
the British channel.
The silver in the sea is only one out
of thousand illustrations of solid sub
stances made invisible by chemical
processes. And we must not suppose
that it is only minute quantities Of
matter that can be thus lost to sight in
transparent liquid. A silver half dol
7 lar "a mythical piece of money to our
Y young readers, but the old folks can
e tell them how large it is, or was,) can
n, be dissolved in very small amount OF
! nitric acid, which, if pure, is colorless
;, liquid. Coin soon vanishes, and the
liquid is as clear and transparent as
ever. Many dollars worth of silver
- might thus be concealed in gallon OF
} what would seem to be nothing but
l. water. Other metals, and indeed solid
re substance of all kinds, may be dis
re solved and made to disappear in
- similar way. There is no visible form
n of matter which chemical agencies may
" not render invisible. What we com
VI monty call tho destruction of matter i
~ merely this metamorphosis from tn
. seen to the unseen.
When wood or anything else j
- burned it has simply undergone
ol chemical change which removes it fron
II. our sight. Not a particle of matte
n can he really destroyed, unless by tn
it Power that called it into existence
list The silver in our transparent liquid
IN not annihilated if We pour it into tn
re- sea it is lost to US, but the silver
cd there, like tho millions of tons I
70 kindred tai that were already mil
gled with the waters. In like name
the coal and wood We burn, except I'll
" small residium of ashes, have becOn
'ea viewless gasses, and are blended Wi
'eo the aerial ocean of the atmosphere. {
cit the clearcst day the air above us
s. laden with thousands of tons of Carlo
of in this transparent condition. IL
ntil there, though we cannot see it, al
ere plants are continually turning it ba
ora ito visible form again. This is t
on key to the. mystery of their growt
H. which is mainly the withdrawing
oe carbon from its gaseous state Of ca
~ bonic acid, and making it a part
~ their own structure.
the We have said that the silver in
out sea is useless, because it is diffuS
'ork through so vast a bulk of fluid. l
bed the fact that it has been possible
and detect it when thus diffused sho
pine that, if chemical agencies can mt
ner. solid substances vanish from our sig
,ont they can, on the other hand, com
eoty a body thus concealed to show its
49,. even when it forms only the minnt
proportion of the mixture. The d
81 cacy of chemical tests is almost
'e1 g. yond belief. A sinGle-drap-ot 90
"n. less liquid, added to gallon of co
aceo lesss liquid. may instantaneousIy
bed duce we'll defined red, or blue,
q re- yellow throughout the entire mass
ye as the. latter; and yet, it may be
ines. than hundredth part of gram
some substance in solution thai
made to give such unmistakable
dies. dence of its presence.-[Journa
Chemistry.
Tiers o--s-71 n.
stless lHh Ap'AN. awe -,
- o,i- Mr.. R., a well known metropol
a and printer, once told us that on one o
-, &c sion an old woman from the cou
lola came into the printing Office, wit
wen old bible in her hand. 81 want"