Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/159

 along the extensive line of this coast swept over by the billows of the Irish Sea, are the almost entire absence of seaweeds and the levelness of the sands; indeed, so gentle is the slope of the latter that its average declivity has been estimated at no more than one foot in every fifty yards, and to the flatness of this surface it is due that the beach is in a very great measure freed from putrifying heaps of fish and seaweed, for the rising tides glide with such swiftness over the level sandy beds that most driftmatters and impurities are left behind in the depths beyond low water mark. An analysis, made by Dr. Schweitzer, of the waters of the English coast, furnishes the following result:—

No. of grains. Water                                  964.74 Chloride of Sodium (Table salt)         27.06 Chloride of Magnesium                    3.67 Sulphate of Magnesia (Epsom Salts)       2.30 Sulphate of Lime                         1.40 Carbonate of Lime                        0.03 Carbonate of Magnesia             } Carbonic Acid                     } Potash                            }    Traces Iodine                            } Extractive matter                 } Bromide of Magnesium              } 1,000

There are few, we imagine, who have not at one time or another admired the luminous appearance of the sea on certain evenings. This astonishing and beautiful phenomenon is brought about by the presence in the water of myriads of tiny beings, called Noctilucæ, which possess the power of emitting a phosphorescent light, and seemingly convert the bursting waves into masses of liquid fire. The immense expanse of sea spreading out from the westerly border of the Fylde has, independently of its association with the Gulph Stream, a marked influence in equalising the climate and averting those sudden and extreme degrees of heat and cold commonly experienced inland. The atmosphere over water does not undergo such rapid alterations in its temperature as that over land, and hence it happens that localities situated near the coast are cooler in summer and warmer in winter than others far removed from its vicinity. Most people will have observed that after a calm sunny day at the seaside, a breeze from the land invariably arises after sunset,