The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1893-03-25
WHY THE SEA Is SALT.

quite lncomprehensible, if the waters of
the ocean were otherwise than salt as
they are.
The following explanation was first
suggested to myself many years ago
when receiving my first lessons IN
practical chemical analysis. The
problem then to be solved was the
separation of the bases dissolved in
water by precipitating them one by
one IN solid condition, filtratlng away
the water from the first, then from this
filtrate precipitat;ng the second, and
so on until all were separated or
accounted for.
But in doing this there was one base
that was always left to the last on
account OF the difficulty of combining
it with any acid that would form a
solid compound-a difficulty so great
that its presence was determined by
different method. This base is soda,
the predominating base of sea salt,
where it is combined with hydrochloric
acid. Not only is soda the most
soluble of all the mineral bases, but
the mineral acid with which it is CON-
bined forms remarkably soluble serles
of salts-the chlorides. Thus the
primary fact concerning the salinity of
sea water is that it has selected from
among the stable chemical elements
the two which form the most soluble
compounds. Among the earthly bases
is one which is exceptionally soluble
that is, magnesia-and this stands
next to soda In Its abundance in sea
water.
Modern research has shown that the
ocean contains in solution nearly every
element that exists upon the earth, and
that these elements exist in the water
in proportions nearly corresponding to
the mean solubllity of their various
compounds. Thus gold and silver
and most of the other heavy metals
exist there. Sonnenstadt found about
fourteen grains of gold to the ton of
seawater, or dollars worth in less
than two tons. As the ocean covers
all the lower valleys of the earth, it
receives all the drainage from the whole
of the exposed land. This drainage is
the rainwater that has fallen upon this
exposed surface, has flowed down its
superficial slopes or has sunk into
porous land and descended under
ground. In either case the water
must dissolve and carry with it any
soluble matter that it meets, the quantity
of solid matter which is thus appropri-
ated being proportionate to its solu-
bility and the extent of its exposure to
the solvent. Ram when it falls upon
the earth is distilled water, nearly pure
(its small impurities being what it
obtains from the air), but river water
when it reaches the ocean contains
measurable quantities of dissolved
mineral and vegetable matter. This
continual addition of dissolved mineral
salts without any corresponding abstrac-
ton by evaporation has been going on
ever since the surface of the earth con-
sisted of land and water.
An examination of the composition
OF other bodies OF water which, like
ocean, receive rivers and rivulets and
have no other outlet than that afforded
by evaporation, confirms this view.
All of these are more or less saline,
many of them more so than the ocean
itself. On the great tableiand of ASIA,
Hthe roof OF the world" there is
multitude of small lakes which receive
the waters of rivers and rivulets of that
region and have no outlet to the ocean
On map they appear like bags with
string attached, the bag being the lake
and the string the river. All these
lakes are saline, many of them exces-
sively so, simply because they are ever
receiving river water of slight salinity
and ever giving off vapor which has no
salinity at all. There IS no wash
through these lakes, as in the great
American lakes or those of Constance,
Geneva, etc.
The sea of Aral and the Caspian are
lakes without any other outlet tran
evaporation, and they are saline accord
ingIy. The Dead sea, which receives
the Jordan at one end and multitude
of minor rivers and rlyulets at the other
end and sides, is noted example of
extreme salinity. 1t is, as everybody
knows, a sea or lake of brine. The
total area of land draining into the
great ocean does not exceed one fourth
OF its own area, while the Dead sea
receives the above twenty times greater
than its own, and thus it fulflls the
demand of the above stated theory by
having far greater salinity than has the
great ocean.
According to this view the salinity of
the ocean must be steadily though very
slowly increasing, and there must be
slowly proceeding a corresponding
adaptation of evolution among the In
habitants' both animal and vegetable.
The study of this subject and the effect
which the increasing salinity of the past
must have had upon the progressive
modiicatiuGs, of organic life displayed
by fossils, is l think, worthy of more
attention than it has hitherto received
from paleontologists.
TEARS, IDLE TEARSW
Something About Their Physi-
OlOgy and Psychology.