The Somerset reporter., 1896-01-16
v ny THE SEA Is SALT
1T HAS BEEN SO EVER SINCE THE
CREATION OF The WORLD.

OF Great Benefit to Mankind-Continents
Produced by the Skeletons of Animals
That Could Not Have Lived In Fresh Wa
ter-Moses' Short Account.
The sea at present contains 90. 600,
600, 600, 900, 600 tons of salt. If this salt
could be gathered in solid form and
compressed into the shape of cube. it
would contain l0,173,0 900 cubic miles
Each edge of such cube,would meas
ure somewhat more than 200 miles.
This is enough to cover all the land on
this globe with uniform layer of salt
to depth of 200 feet
This statement as to the saltiness of
the sea is interesting enough in itself,
but 1t is also suggestive. The questions
may we'll be asked Where did all this
salt come from, and what is the use of
II: Several scientific gentlemen have
attempted to answer this first question,
and their efforts are not entirely salts
factory. The second question is not so
difficult.
According to the history of the crea-
ton Of the world, as told by Moses i'll
the Genesis, it is implied that the ocean
existed before the land, for, on the
third day the water under the heav-
ems was gathered together and the dry
land appeared.
This statement has bothered great
number of able philosophers who, in
their effort to stick to the letter of the
Scripture Nnd at the same time to rea-
son ont everything on perfectly natural
principles, have been puzzled to know
how such grand transformation could
be accomplished i'll one day And their
perplexity was not relieved when learn
ed biologists announced that it must
have required ages for the waters that
enveloped the earth to subside and re-
veal this land that lay beneath
But when it was suggested that the
word day" as used by Moses meant,
not a period of "a hours, but an era of
thousands of years, the difficulty was
removed. This meaning of the word
day is at present generally accepted
by deyout scientists, who now declare
that there is nothing impossible in Mo
SEES account of the creation.
This description, to be sure, is la
mentally brief. 1t was hardly adequate
to pass over such huge event as the
creation of world in few lines That
was Il big story from a newspaper point
of view, and all thoughtful persons
must acknowledge that Moses did not
take advantage of his opportunity
Accepting the Mosaic account, DIR. I.
5. Hunt, learned writer ON the phys
zeal history of the globe, supplies what
Moses left out, and in so doing he gives
IA very good reason for the presence of
the salt in the sea. Having arrived at
the point of Moses meager narrative
where the earth was i'll molten state
and surrounded by an envelope Of gases
and of water vapor, DIR. Hunt says:
1.-The carbonates, chlorides and sui
pilates chemical combinations of car
We're changed into silicates The car
BON, chlorine and sulphur, being thus
freed from the oxygen, separated i'll the
form of acid gases. THESE, with nitro
gen, vapor of water and probable eX-
cess of oxygen, formed the atmosphere,
which was very dense (and also very
unhealthy.
The surface of the earth was cover
ed with Jumps of molten rock (probably
resembling furnace slagl. The depressed
parts of the surface were filled with
highly heated solutions Of hydrochloric
and sulphuric acids, which ate into the
surface and decomposed it. In this way
the silicates We're changed to pure silica,
taking the form of quartz as the atmos-
phere cooled, and the condensation of
the vaporous atmosphere produced sea
water, holding i'll solution salts of sodi-
um, calcium, magnesium and ammoni-
um. The atmosphere, thus freed of its
noxious elements, became pure and fit
for man
1t is therefore evident that the sea
has been salty from the creation OF the
world. The salt does not come, as is
generally supposed. from friction of the
water against salt "rocks" in the bed
of the ocean. This, then, answers the
first question. Where did the salt come
from: The second question is pretty
well answered by Mr.. q. W Little
hales in Appletons Popular Science
Monthly.
''It seems, he says, "that the sea
was made salt i'll the beginning as
part Of the grand design of the Creator
to provide for the system of evolution
which has been going on since the Great
ton. Many distinct species Of living
organisms exist i'll the sea as result OF
its salinity, and their remains have
largely contributed to the growth Of con
tinents. "
The minute creatures that have lived
III the sea for ages past have left endur
ing monuments i'll the shape of islands,
rocks and continents. If the sea had not
been salty these marine animals could
not have existed and secreted the hard
Substance known a. IA .calcareous Skele-
ton, which has largely contributed 10
the growth of continents Among thcsn
early inhabitants Of the sea were corals,
erinoids, sea urchins aud sartishes
The saltiness of the sea has also ignch
To do with the ocean currents, which
distribute the heat Of The tropics over
the colder regions Of the earth Currents
are largely due to the difference be
tween the specific gravity Of sea water
and the fresh water of rains Thus,
when rain falls ON certain part Of the