Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1893-01-12
WHY THE SEA rs SALT
IT RECEIVES MINERAL SALT FROM
LAND AND LOSES NONE,

Tho ProcesxSOf Evaporation Releases Water
from the Oceans. but the Salt Remains
Therefore the Sea Is Continually Grow
ing More Salty.
Why Is sea water salt? is question
that has been regarded as a mystery
and has given rise to some curious specu-
lations, but little consideration on the
subject must, I think, satisfy US all that
it would be very wonderful, quite in
comprehensive. il 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 prac.
teal chemical analysis. The problem
then to be solved was the separation Of
the bases dissolved in water by precip-
itating them one by one in solid con
dition, filtrating away the water from
the first, then from this filtrate precip-
itating 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 ac-
count Of the difficulty of combining it
with any acid that would form solid
compound-a difficulty SO great that It's
presence was determined by different
method. This base is soda. the predomi-
mating base of sea salt. where it is com
bined with hydrochloric acid. Not only
is soda the most soluble of all the mineral
bases. but the mineral acid with which
it is combined forms remarkably solu-
BILE series 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 com
pounds. 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 Me earth. and
that these elements exist in the water in
proportions nearly corresponding to the
mean solubilIty of their various com
pounds. 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
a 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
underground. In either case the water
must dissolve and carry with it any sol
uble matter that it meets. the quantity
of solid matter which is thus appropri-
ated being proportionate to its solubility
and the extent of its exposure TO the
solvent. Rain when il falls upon the
earth is distilled water, nearly pure tits
small impurities being what it obtains
from the air. but river water when it
reaches the ocean contains measurable
quantities of dissolved mineral and veg
etable matter. These small contribu-
tons ara ever pouring in and ever accu-
mulating. This continual addition Of
dissolved mineral salts without any cor
responding abstraction by evaporation
has been going on ever since the surface
Of the earth consisted of land and water
An examination Of the compost ion Of
other bodies of water which, like the
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 tableland of Asia, 1.-THE 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 APP
pear like bags, with string attached,
the bag being the lake and the string the
river. All these lakes are saline, many
of them excessively 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 than
evaporation. and they are saline accord
ingly. The Dead sea, which receives the
Jordan at one end and a multitude Of
minor rivers and rivulets at the other
end and sides. is noted example of ex-
IRENE salinity. 1t is, as everybody
knows, sea or lake of brine The to-
tai area Of land training into the great
ocean does not exceed one-fourth of its
own area, while the Dead sea receives
the drainage and soluble matter of an
area above twenty times greater than its
own. and thus it fultills 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 corresponding adap-
tation of evolution among the inhabit
ants. 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
notifications Of organic life displayed
by fossils is, think, worthy of more at
iention than it has hitherto received
from paleontologists.- Mattien Viii
lalnS in Science