Abstract
IN reference to the very interesting article in NATURE for February 22, “American Deep-Sea Soundings,” may I be permitted to make the following remarks:—It is there stated that the water-collecting cylinder is apt to lead to incorrect conclusions in regard to the gaseous ingredients of sea water obtained by its means from great depths, owing to the escape of a portion of the gases when the pressure is relieved by the cylinder being drawn to the surface. As a member of the Porcupine expeditions of 1869 and 1870, I had nearly eight weeks' constant daily experience in the examination of samples of abyssal water thus obtained, and I believe that I was the first to adapt the gas analysis apparatus of the late Prof. W. A. Miller to the exigencies of a laboratory on board ship. The general result of these experiments for 1869 will be found as an appendix in No. 121 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society. My object in writing now is to point out that if there were such an escape of gaseous ingredients as is indicated above, the abyssal water would be so saturated with them at the ordinary atmospheric pressure (i.e. after the sample was removed from the water cylinder in the laboratory), that the least elevation of temperature would be sufficient to cause a further quantity to be given off. This, however, never was the case, since I invariably noticed that there was no appearance of bubbles of gas, until the water had been heated above 120° Fahr., and frequently still hotter. I may add that the only samples of water which appeared saturated with gaseous ingredients were those taken at the surface, after several hours of strong wind. I must confess that after giving a good deal of thought to the subject, and conversing with friends whose knowledge of physics is far greater than mine, who agree with my view of the matter, I am unable to see any reason why we should expect to find any greater quantity of gaseous ingredients in abyssal than in surface water. No doubt, if the excess were there the enormous pressure would retain it, but where is the source of the supply of the supposed excess? I have never seen a satisfactory answer to this question. The solvent is exposed to excessive pressure, but the gases to be dissolved in it are not, unless there is any evolution of gas at those depths. It is probable that this abyssal water was at some point in its circulation near the surface, when an interchange would take place between some of its dissolved carbonic acid and the oxygen of the atmosphere. And it appears to me that it is only when the particles of sea water are near the surface, and exposed to no excess of pressure, that they dissolve their gaseous ingredients, which are afterwards modified in their composition by the animal life on the sea bottom.
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CARPENTER, W. Deep-Sea Soundings. Nature 5, 341 (1872). https://doi.org/10.1038/005341a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/005341a0
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