Arkansas weekly mansion., 1883-07-07
The COlOrs Of.Lakes and Rivers.


What is the color of pure water? AL
mos: any person. who has no special
knowledge of the subject will reply at
once 1t has no color" Yet everybody
knows. either through hearsay or by the
cvid nee of his own eyes. that the ocean
is blue. Why the o can looks blue is 4
question that few who have crossed it
have ever sought to solve, and there
are. probably. many travellers who,
Though trey have seen most of the
famhu> rivers and lakes in the world,
have fail d to notice the remarkable
differences in color which their waters
present. Even the ocean is not uniform
III color; in S, me places its waters are
gre II. or even yellowiSh. Some lakes
are dis: inctly blue; others present vari-
ouS shades of green. so that in some
cases they are hardly distinguishable
from their level, gra>s-covcrcd banks; a
few are amost black. The Lake of
Geneva is azu hued, the Lake of Con-
stance and the Lake of Lucerne are
green; tne color of the Mediterranean
has been called indigo. The lake of
Br!enz is greenish yell wv, and its neigh
Dor. Lake Taun, is blue New York has
both green and blue lakes The colors
of rivers differ vet more widely. The
Ehonc is blue and so is the Danube,
W u!Ic iu;t hHiHc Is green. An ItotlN
vino has travrr-ed the wol rful
Adirondack region and ti5hed IN its
w..tcrs must have noticed the rcmarka-
bic tlii1r cFccs in the color of its rivers
and >ma | L streams which ra,liate in
every dire. on from the central group
of mountains. The waters Of the Sa-
cOndaga are vcllOWi-h, while those OF
the Canada ere, k and Of the Mohawk
are clear with perhaps blu h tint IN
deep pools. ri h Creek is black or deep
brown. and its nrig:lbcr. Salmon River,
Is coior.e,S. Next comes the Black
River. whose color is indicated by its
name, and between it and the GraSSe,
which is alt, black or brown, is the Os-
Wy" s;,tcde vii. Gear white waters. The
st. Ecgi-, again. is black, but the
RaGucttc is white. The St. Lawrence
Is blue Thee various hucS are II 1T
caused by mud or any opaque scd.-
mcnt. such a that which makes the
Mississippi rntf,c-colorcd, but brlonG to
tn" waters. ka the golden color OF Tea.
without greatly imrairing their trans
parcncy.
The cause of the difference in color
Of lakes and rivers has engaged the at
t"i.ti"n of many celebrated inveS: iga-
tors OF nature. such as Tvndall, Bun
sen. Arago. Sa.ntc-Claire Devillc and
Others. iIctcnt!L froi. spring OF lEr
Tnivcr-it, OF Licgr. has carefully in
Vc>ti@;r"l The question of the color of
water, and has reached some interest
in~ con.luS:nuS. According to him.
absolutely pare water. when seen in
misses of sufficient thickness, is blue.
and al the varieties of color exhibited
i'll lax and streams arise from the
prcS"n.." in the wafer of mineral salts
"f d if.'rrnt Gr."rrcS OF S:ilUbilitv and ia
V;r.ing quantities. Water containing
car onatc of lime IN Il state of almost
complete solution remains blue. but ii
the solution IL less complete the water
will have tinge of green which Will
grow stronger as the point of prccipiti-
ton * approached. Prot. Spring con-
clu,l"S that if me is added IT, blue
water. in viii h 50 much carbonate of
lime y already Il S-nlveI that the point
o. >aturation is approached. the water
will become green. In proof OF this
he cites the fact that water near the
shores of lakes and. S"aS. where ii
comes in contact with limestone. is
g"n-l ally of a ~!rcncr hue than else
%herr.---A- J.. ,>Ei!.