Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-09-03
Celebration in Water.

From the American Angler.
What is the color Of pure water? Almost any
person who has no special knowledge of the
subject will reply at once, at has no color"
Yet everybody knows, either through hearsay
or by the evidence Of his own eyes. that the
ocean is blue. Why the ocean looks blue is a
question that few who have crossed it have
ever sought to solve, and there are, probably
many travellers who, though they have seen
world, have failed to notice the remarkable
differences in color which their waters present
Even the ocean is not uniform in color; in
some places its waters are green, or even vel
lowish. Some lakes are distinctly blue; others
present various shades of green, SO that in some
cases they are hardly distinguishGble from their
level, grass-covered banks; a few are almost
black. The Lake Of Geneva is azure-hued; the
Lake Of Constance and the Lake Of Lueerne
are green; the color of the Mediterranean has
been called indigo. The Lake Of Brienz is
greenish yellow, and its neighbor, Lake Thun,
is blue. New York has both green and blue
lakes. The colors Of rivers differ yet more
widely. The Rhone is blue, and 30 is the
Danube, while the Rhine is green. Anybody
who has traversed the wonderful Adirondack
region and fshed in its waters must have
noticed the remarkable differences in the
color of its rivers and smaller streams
which radiate in every direction from
the central group of mountains. The
waters Of the Sacondaga are yellowish.
while those Of the Canada creeks and Of the
Mohawk are clear, with perhaps a blush tint
in deep pools. Fish creek is black or deep
brown, and its neighbor, Salmon river, is color
less. Next comes the Black river, whose color
is indicated by it's name, but between it and
the Grasse, which is also black or brown, is the
Oswegatchie, with clear white waters. The
st. Regis again is black. but the Raquette is
white. The st. Lawrence is blue. These vari-
Gus hues are not caused by mud or any opaque
sediment, such as that which makes the Missis-
sippi cofee-colored. but belong to the waters,
like the golden color Of tea, without greatly
impairing their transparency.
The cause of the difference in the color of
lakes and rivers has engaged the attention of
many celebrated Investigators Of nature, such
as Tyndall, Bunsen, Arago. Sainte- Claire De-
vile and others. Recently Prof. Spring Of the
university Of Liege has carefully Investigated
the question Of the color of water and has
ing to him, absolutely pure water, when seen in
masses of sufficient thickness, is blue. and all
the varieties Of color exhibited in lakes and
streams arise from the presence in the water of
mineral salts of different degrees Of solubility
and in varying quantities. Water containing
carbonate Of lime in q state of almost complete
solution remains blue but if the solution is less
complete the water will have a tinge of green,
which will grow stronger az the point Of pre-
cipitation is approached. Prof. Spring con-
cludes that il lime Ia added TO blue water in
solved that the point OF saturation il ap-
preached the water will become green. In
proof Of this he cites the fact that the water
near the shores of lakes and sea, where il
comes in contact with limestone il generally
of greener hue than elsewhere.