The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1906-02-13
WHY THE SEA is SALT
1T HAS BEEN so EVER SINCE THE
CREATION OF THE WORLD.

nenta Produced by the Skeletons OF
Animals That Could Not Have Lived
I'm Fresh Water.
The sea at present contains 00,0OO,-
100000 100000 tons of salt. II this salt
could be gathered in solid form and
compressed into the shape OF cube It
would contain 1O,173,OO0 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 thousand feet.
This statement as to the saltiness of
the sea is interesting enough in itself,
but it is also suggestive. The questions
may well be asked, Where did all this
salt come from and what is the use Of
1t? 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 in
the Genesis, 1t 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 a great
number of able philosophers, who in
their effort to stick to the letter of the
Scripture and at the same time to rea-
son out everything on perfectly natural
principles have been puzzled to know
how such grand transformation could
be accomplished in 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 period Of twenty-four hours, but
an era of thousands of years, the diff
Guilty was removed. This meaning Of
the word day" is at present generally
accepted by devout scientists, who now
declare that there is nothing impossible
In Moses account of the creation.
This description, to be sure, Is lam
entably brief. 1t was hardly ade-
quate to pass over such huge event
as the creation of a world in a few
lines. That was big story from a
newspaper point of view, and all
thoughtful persons much acknowledge
that Moses did not take advantage of
his opportunity.
Accepting the Mosaic account, a
learned writer on the physical history
Of the globe supplies what Moses left
out, and in so doing he gives 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 in a molten state and
surrounded by an envelope of gases
and of water vapor, the writer says:
1.-THE carbonates, chlorides and sui
pilates Chemical combinations of car
bon, chlorine and sulphur with OXYGEN
were changed into silicates. The car
bon, chlorine and sulphur, being thus
| freed from the oxygen, separated in 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 COW
! cred with Jumps of molten rock (proba-
I! bly, resembling furnace slag). The de-
pressed parts of the surface were filed
with highly heated solutions of hydro
chlOric and sulphuric acids, which ate
into the surface and decomposed it. In
| this way the silicates were changed to
pure silica. taking the form of quartz
as the atmosphere cooled, and the con-
densation of the vaporous atmosphere
| produced seq water, holding in solution
salts of sodium. calcium. magnesium
and ammonium. 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
I 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 a scientist
| 1T seems" he says, that the sea
was made salt in the beginning as a
part of the grand design Of the Creator
to provide for the system of evolution
which has been going on since the crea-
ton. Many distinct species of living
organisms exist in the sea as a result
Of its salinity. and their remains have
largely contributed to the growth Of
continents"
The minute creatures that have lived
in the sea for ages past have left en-
during monuments in the shape of is
lands, rocks and continents. If the
sea had not been salty these marine
animals could not have existed and Sc
creted the hard substance known as a
"calcareous skeleton" which has large
| ly contributed 70 the growth of CONT
| nents. Among these early inhabitants
Of the sea were corals, crinoids, sea
urchins and starfishes
The saltiness of the sea has also
much 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 Indifference
between the specific gravity Of sea wa
| ter and the fresh water of rains. Thus
when rain falls on a certain part OF
the ocean the effort of the heavier salt
water of the ocean to establish an
equilibrium causes q current-New
| York World