The Rugby gazette and east Tennessee news. (Rugby, Morgan Co., Tenn.) 1884-188?, 1886-03-27
COLORS OF THE SEA.
Different Theories Advanced TO Account
for its Many Changes.

for its Many Changes.
The changes in the color of the sea
have attracted the attention of seafar-
inc men from the earliest times. They
struck with wonder the Phoenicans
when first they vcntured out of the
Mediterranean into the Atlantic; they
excited the establishment of Columbus
and terrified his companions while in
search of the far-famed Indies, and they
are no less surprise to the modern
navigator, to whom the march of dis
covery has left few uneXplored regions
in store. Numerous theories were Of
fered in explanation of these changes,
some ascribing them to the varying
color of the sea bottom, some to diff
ferences in depth, others to the presence
of certain coloring substances; others
again to the chemical composition of
the water. Most of these suggestions
contained an element of truth, although
no one of them taken by itself sulliccd
to account for alienation in color which
had often been observed to occur in the
course of a few hours sail, and within
distance measuring less than a ships
length. Of late years, as the reader is
aware, numerous scientific expeditions
have been fitted out and dispatched by
the Governments of England, Norway,
Germany and America for the express
purpose of exploring the secrets of the
deep. Among the problems which have
now for the first time received a salts
factory solution, new light has also
been thrown upon the conditions which
affect the color of the sea water in every
part of the ocean, thus completing the in
formation for which we were indebted to
the unaided exertions of earliertravelers.
One of the most remarkable and most
widely distributed contrasts of color is
that which is known to exist between
the intensely blue seas situated between
the tropics and the green seas of higher
ATTITUDES. 1t appears, as the result of
recent observations, and more especially
OF series of experiments made on
board the German frigate Gazelle, that
there is an intimate relation between
the colors of sea water and the proper
ton of salt held in solution by the lat
ter. On comparing the specific gravity
of green water with that of blue water,
it was found that the latter is always
heavier than the former. and, therefore,
at the same timFmore salt, the two diff
ferently colored waters being supposed
to have the same temperature. In
other words, the greater or lesser in
tensity of the blue color of sea water
may be taken as direct index of its
sadness and of its specific gravity, so
that when we observe the color of the
water successfully change from deep
blue to blush green and dark green
we may conclude that the water has be-
come at the same time less salt and less
| heavy. This result agrees with the ex.
perence of navigators in every part of
the ocean, for as the vessel proceeds
from the dense and salt waters of the
tropical regions toward the lighter and
tresher waters of higher ATTITUDES and OF
the polar regions the color of the sea is
seen to change from an intense blue to
Il greenish blue and green tint. There
are, however, numerous exceptions.
| Green seas are met with between the
tropics, and blue seas are encounteredin
the temperate region, and even within
the arctic circle, but these exceptions,
far from contradcting, only tend tc
confirm the above rule Science 70,
| All.