Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-05-29
The Color of Water.

What is the color of pure water?
Almost any person who has no special
knowledge of the subject will reply at
once 1T has no color Yet every
| body knows, either through hearsay or
| by evidence OF his own eyes, that the
ocean looks blue. Why the ocean
looks blue is question that few
who have crossed it have ever sought
to solve, says Nature. and there are
probable many travellers who, though
| they have seen most of the famous
rivers and lakes in the world, have
failed to notice the remarkable differ
ence in color which their waters pre-
sent. Even the ocean is not uniform
in color; In some places its waters are
green, or even yellowish. Some lakes
are distinctly blue; others present var
lous shades of green. so that in some
cases they are hardly distinguishable
from their level, grass-covered banks;
a few are almost black. The lake of
Geneva is azure-hued; the lake of Con-
stance and the lake of Lucerne 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 so is
the Danube. while the Rhine is green.
Anybody who has traversed the won-
derful Adirondack region and fished in
its waters must have noticed the re-
markable difference in the color of its
rivers and smaller streams which radi-
ate 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 tirt in deep poles. Fish creek
is black or deep brown; and its neigh
Dor, Salmon river, is colorless. Next
comes the Black river, whose color is
indicated by its 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 various
hues are not caused by mud or any
apaque sediment, such as that which
makes the Mississippi coffee-colored,
but belong to the waters, like the
golden color of tea, without greatly
lmpalrlng their transparency.
The cause of the difference in the
color of lakes and rivers has engaged
the attention of many celebrated in
vestigators of nature, such as Tyndall,
Bunsen, Arago, Sainte-Claire Deville,
and others. Recently Prof. Spring of
the University of Liege has carefully
investigated the question of the color
of water, and has reached some inter-
esting conclusions. According to him,
absolute 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 a 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 as the point of precipi-
tation is approached. Prof. Spring
concludes that if lime is added to blue
water in which so much carbonate of
lime is already dissolved that the point
of saturatian is approached the water
will. become green. In proof of this he
cites the fact that the water near the
shores of lakes and seas, where it
comes in contact with limestone. is
generally of a greener hue than else
where.