San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-03-03
THE COLOR OF WATER.
Why Different Bodies OF Water Vary
in Color.

Why Different Bodies OF Water VARY
in Color.
From Nature,
What is the color of pure water.
Almost any person who has no spec
ial knowledge of the subject will re-
ply 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 the question
that few who have crossed it have
ever sought to solve, and there are,
prOha NV MANY travellers who, though
they have seen most of the famous
rINuls ana IakeS IN the world, have
failed to notice the remarkable differ
ences il color which their waters
present. Even the ocean is not uni
form in color; in some places its
waters are green, or even yellOWish.
Some lakes are distinctly blue;
others present various shades of
green, so that in some cases they are
hardly distuingishable 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 Lucerne are green;
the color of the Mediterranean has
been called indigo. The Lake of
Brinz is greenish yellow. and its
neighbOr, Lake THU, 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 trav-
ersed the wonderful Adirondack re-
gion and fished in its waters must have
noticed the remarkable difference in !
the color of its rivers and smaller |
streams which radiate in every direc- |
ton from the central group of noun |
tains. The waters of the Sacondaga
are yellowish, while those of the Can
ada creeks and of the Mohawk are /
clear, with perhaps blush tint in /
deep pools, Fish Creek is black or
deep brown, and its neighbor, 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 Oswegatche, with clear white
waters. The st. Regis, again, is
black, but the Raquette Is white.
st. Lawrence is blue. These various
hues are not caused by mud, or any
Opaque sediment, such as that which
makes the Mississippi coffee cOlored,
but belong to the waters, like the
golden color of tea, without greatly
their transparency. The
cause of the difference in the color OF
lakes and rivers has engaged the at
tentiOn of many celebrated investi-
gators of nature, such as Tyndall,
Bunsen, Arago, Sainte-Clalre Deville
and others. Recently Prof. Spring,
Of the University of Liege, has care
fully investigated the question of the
color of water and has reach
ed some interesting conclu. :
sions. According to him, abSO-
lutte pure water, when seen in
masses of sufficient thickness, is blue,
and all the varieties of color exhibit
ed in lakes and streams arise from
the presence in the water OF mineral
salts of different degrees of sOlubility
and in varying quantities. Water
con taining carbonate of lime III a
state of almost complete solution re-
mains blue. but if the solution is less |
complete the water will have tinge
of green, which will grow stronger as
the point of precipitation is APP
preached. 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
is approached, the water
will become green. In proof of this J
he cites the fact that the water near
the shores of lakes and seas, where it
comes in contact with the limestone,
is generally of greener hue than
elsewhere.