Sunshine
VI. 00. 00, 000. 6. 0. 28. 5. 2. 0. N. W. 60. 4.
0, 000. Sunshine

{315}

* * * * *

_Other Inquiries Concerning the Sea._

The _Publisher_ of these _Tracts_, knowing that the Honorable _Robert
Boyle_ had not left unconsidered the Natural History of the _Sea_, of which
Subject the late, and these present Papers, have entertained the _Reader_
as to the Observables of its _Flux_ and _Reflux_; He was on this occasion
instant, with that Gentleman to impart to him, for publication, these Heads
of Inquiries, he had drawn up, touching that Subject: Which having obtained
(though the _Author_ desires, they may be lookt upon as unfinisht) he thus
subjoyns.

What is the Proportion of Salt, that is in the Water of differing Seas; And
whether in the same Sea it be always the same? And if it be not, how much
it differs?

[Sidenote: * _This last Clause containing difficult _Quaere_ and that may
seem something odd, Mr. _Boyl_ thinks fit to note, That having recommended
this matter, among others, to a learned Physician, that was sailing into
_America_, and furnished him with a small _Hydrostaticall_ Instrument, to
observe from time to time the Differences of Gravity he might meet with;
This account was returned him, That he found by the Glass, the Sea-water to
increase in weight, the nearer he came to the _Line_, till he arrived at a
certain Degree of _Latitude_; as he remembers, it was about the 30th; after
which, the Water seemed to retain the same specifick gravity, till he came
to the _Barbadoes_, or _Jamaica_._]

What is the Gravity of Sea-waters in reference to Fresh Waters and to one
another: Whether it vary not in Summer and Winter, and on other Scores? And
whether in the same Season its Gravity proceed _only_ from the greater or
lesser Proportion of Salt, that is in it, and not sometimes from other
Causes? And what are the differing Gravities of the Sea-water, according to
the Climats. *

What are the Odors, Colours and Tasts, observable in Sea-water?

What is the depth of the sea in several places, and the Order of its
increase and Decrements? And whether the Bottom of the Sea does always rise
towards the Shore, unless accidentally interrupted?

Of the Bottom of the Sea, and how it differs from the Surface of the Earth,
in reference to the Soyl, and evenness or Roughness of the Superficies, And