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The Phosphorus and Arsenic Compounds of Sea-Water

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

W. R. G. Atkins
Affiliation:
Head of the Department of General Physiology at the Plymouth Laboratory
Edith G. Wilson
Affiliation:
Temporary Assistant Physiologist.

Extract

1. Much of what was formerly considered to be phosphorus in organic combination, in sea-water, is in reality arsenic.

2. Certain analyses giving high values for phosphate in sea-water and a June minimum very far from complete exhaustion of phosphate are vitiated by the inclusion of arsenate, as arsenomolybdate, in the phosphomolybdate precipitate.

3. Arsenic in sea-water exists mainly in the form of arsenite. The arsenate present, if any, has hitherto been included in the results obtained for phosphate.

4. Since arsenic is found in algæ and has been recorded as increasing in quantity with increase of depth it seems that the arsenic present in sea-water must undergo seasonal changes.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1927

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References

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