Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1911-05-24
WHY THE SEA Is SAT-.
Comes from Soil Carried to the Sea
by Rivera for Au~.

I
"Why the Sea 10 Saltu was the rsner.,
subject Of the address OF Sir John Murray
in his Lowell institute lecture in Boston
recently.
/ Inc speaker pointed out that the earth
- planet Is in . terraqueous condition.
IL mas an atmosphere and q hydrosphere,
the latter OF which includes much more
than the ocean, for water in its various
dinusions runs over the surface and per-
coiates through the crust so that the
watery envelope is much more continuous
than one would at arst assume.
The depth OF the ocean il a little
short OF six miles in places, with, in the
Atlantic, one "deep'' OF four miles, and in
the Indian ocean one OF three miles. AL
together there are sixty seven places more
than three miles deep. These bear no
certain relation to the continents. The
whole surface Of the earth divides itself
into two great areas, one OF which lies on
an average about mile higher than the
| other.
The surface OF the ocean, the speaker
said, Is the only standard to which
the depth could be related, but it is very
complicated one. II is by no means the
spheroid OF revolution. Some have
claimed that in the cold seasons the piIing
OF ice In the polar regions has drawn away
water from other portions and lowered the
depth OF the equatorial seas. Then, again
great mountain ranges attract the water.
the Himaiayas, for example, raising the
level nj the sca ntony most h.,r utra...
about 200 feet above that at Ceylon. For
this reason it has been claimed that all the
raised beaches are not due to the elevation
OF the land, but sometimes because the
water level has fallen.
Coming to the saltness OF the sea, the
speaker referred to the remarkable
achievements OF A. Lawrence Rotch, OF
Boston, and his companions, in sounding
the atmosphere. By such work 1t had
been established that there are on the
surface Of the globe certain areas OF high
barornetric pressure, and these correspond
largely with the desert regions Of the
earth. Twenty per cent. Of the land sur
face 10 desert, and it is all situated within
such barometric areas. The location OF
thEpG HhVIkS tuc huOuut VI uEhiuuKe OL
water to the ocean.
In such regions there is usually a salt
lake, and the chemical composition OF
such lake is always found to correspond
to the salts in the soil Of the drainage
basin. There is reason for believing, then,
that the sea Is salt for the same reason;
the carrying OF salts by the rivers. It has
suA 49, - .~tk L..
rivers to the amount in the sea how long
the process Of saitening the ocean has
been going on, bat this computation-from
six to seven hundred thousand years-is
not dehnitive for . number OF reasons.
One OF these is that II was not known
what the initial contents OF the water may
have been or how much OF the chemicals
may have been washed down from the
atmosphere in comparatively short space
OF time. There is always, further, the
question OF what reactions occur within
the water itself.
The lecturer then took up the question
Of the saltness OF different portions OF the
ocean. There is comparatively great
range in salinity, due to a number OF
causes. When a wind blows from . cold
region to q warm one, its capacity for
moisture is enormously increased and
it takes up from the ocean much moisture
by evaporation. The water here is more
salt than elsew here, 80 that one may look
for salty ocean under such conditions.
The Mediterranean sea is very salt, and
the Red Sea the safest portion OF the
ocean. There are about two million tons
Of salt to the cubic mile OF sea water and
seven hundred trillion to the whole ocean.
This salt, II spread over the bottom OF the
sea, would make layer one hundred and
seventy-nine feet deep.
Sir John next TOOK up the question OF
the former salinity OF the ocean. He said
that human beings are really only ma
rine aquaria, bearing in their bodies the
cells that once lived in the ocean. Mann
NAL blood and sea water are OF much the
same composition. The blood Of animals
now living in the sea is very close to sea
water in It's chemicals. The animals that
formerly lived in the sec were likewise
very close in their blood to the sea water
of their times.
When the ancestors Of man crawled out
on land and began that evolution which
has resulted in the present man, the cells
of the ancestor represented the sea water
OF the Permian age. The composition OF
the cell has been preserved unchanged, and
now represents the sea water OF ages ago.
This fact is asserted a. being true OF the
animals that have taken to fresh water;
they have preserved the salinity OF the
ocean at the time they left it. From this
point Of view the sea may be said to have
gained third OF its saltness since Per-
milan times.
Another idea, which, according to the
lecturer, Is attracting much attention
among scientific men atthe present time,
ID the hypothesis that sea water Is itself
food, and the animals that live In 1t may
maintain themselves without the need OF
eating, absorbing their nutriment. An