GOLD AND SILVER IN THE SEA.
Peoria, Ill.
Is the expression, “There is gold in the sea,” only a poetic fiction or is it true? As a friend says that there is gold and silver in some kinds of sea water?
A Constant Reader.
Answer.—Sea water is impregnated with certain chemical salts, including chlorides, sulphates, bromides, iodides, and carbonates, some of which have the power of dissolving gold and silver or holding them in solution. The chemist Sonstadt has recently shown that sea water contains nearly one grain of gold to the ton of water, held in solution by iodide of calcium; and it has been known for some years that the old copper stripped from the bottoms of ships is often so rich in silver taken from the sea that it pays a profit on the cost of smelting it. It is estimated that the ocean holds in solution at least 2,000,000 tons of silver. Assuming this to be the metric ton of 2,204.6 pounds, the above total is equivalent in weight to 77,448,000,000 American standard dollars—nearly seven times the total silver product of the world from the earliest times to the close of 1879, or $11,315,000, as estimated by that eminent statistician, the Russian councillor, Otreschkoff. A large discount might be made from these estimates, and yet there would be enough left, aside from all the treasures of sunken Spanish galleons and oriental argosies, to demonstrate that the saying, “There is gold in the sea,” is not merely a poetic fancy.
FRENCH POOLS—PARIS MUTUALS.
Chicago, Ill.
Kindly explain “French pools,” or “Paris mutuals,” as used in horse-racing circles.