The Osceola times., 1885-09-05
SEA SCUM AND ITS NATURE.
A Scientific Inquiry into One OF the Ocean
PrOblemA.

SEA SCOm ANU IIS MA OHc.
A Scientific Inquiry into One OF the Ocean
Probiems.
An interesting paper on this subject
was read by Mr.. H. Tyron at a recent
meeting of the Royal society of Queens
land. Having remarked that the sub
ject OF his communication was sea
scum which was to be met with al this
season Of the year (about March) to
greater or less extent all up the coast,
and which, ON being washed ashore,
manifested its presence more especially
in the unpleasant odor which its decom-
position gave rise to, the author pro-
ceeded to relate that the same sea scum
had been noticed in the bay by naval
surgeon, nearly thirty years since, who
had left record Of the phenomenon. and
that 1t had been reported from the
AbrQlhos, and probably from the estuary
of the Murray. Also, that remote from
the Australian shores it occurred in
the open seas of the great oceans. in
the Indian Ocean. and in the Hoang Ho
or Yellow Sea. As met with at sea, this
scum, sea sawdust, or whales spawn,
as it had been indifferently named, often
covered interruptedly areas of several
hundred square miles in extent, giving
the ocean streaky appearance.
On close examination it had been
found to consist OF innumerable small
particles. which had suggested the COM
parison Of chopped hay when magnihed.
and that when still further examined
these fragments resolved themselves
into number of regular tubules placed
side by side in single layer, and that
each tubule was divided by scepta into
cells, which contained fluid in which
there were numerous granules. In its
free state in the ocean the scum was
stated to be yellow brown, and that
soon after being washed ashore it be-
came green. The exhibition of these
characters under the appearances de-
scribed made 1t more than probable that
in the sea scum of the bay. as in the
case Of that Of the other localities
mentioned, we had to deal with
7richodesniiuns, a genus of minute
Afqe, first characterized by Ehrenberg,
from matter collected on the Red Sea,
and which he had named Trichodssmiu,n
erythr0un. Other species had since
been discovered, but this, which consti-
tuted the scum under consideration,
generally corresponded to the T. eryth-
reum as defined by its author, and as
Understood by more recent writers; and,
moreover, this algs had been mentioned
by Otto Sender in an enumeration Of
Australian plants of this order as occur
ring in north and tropical east Australia.
The author proceeds to remark that on
keeping this scum in sea water 1t after
awhile decomposed with liberation Of
gas, during which process the soluble
pigment escaped from the cells into the
water, which consequently assumed
wine-red color. This state of things
never occurred naturally in Queensland
waters, but probably under certain con-
ditions of temperature and salinity Of
the sea it had been occasionally re-
marked in the Indian Ocean and various
arms of the sea connected with 1t, and
an explanation was thus afforded in the
phenomena thereby occasioned for those
seas of blood which voyagers have de-
scribed, and which even to this day are
usually relegated to the region Of myth.
Descriptions of these remarkable ap-
pearances were then read, and 1t was
stated that Ehrenberg had associated
the purple color occasionally exhibited
by the Red Sea with the presence of this
particular alga which he described, and
that the title Red Sea had been de-
rived from the exhibition of this phenom.
enon. This subject was briefly alluded
to, and the author of the paper further
stated that the bad odor was also an at
tendant circumstance Of the decomposi-
ton Of the scum, and that, like the pur-
pie color. it was scarcely, II at all, pre-
sented by ocean scum in the latitude Of
Brisbane, and even still further north;
but that in other localities and in the In
dian Ocean its pungent odor was decid-
edly injurious to man. 1t was further
stated that the absence Of color and de-
cided pungency had been remarked in
the 7richode1niuns of the Yellow Sea,
and, in conclusion, that the scum a.
found at the estuary Of the Murray was
poisonous in very pronounced degree
to cattle who had swallowed it, and that
some Of the mysterious losses Of cattle
in the bay referred to the action OF some
enigmatical poison plant that might be
connected with the occurrence OF this
scuA Federal Atstrdlasian.