Sea-Water.-Sea-water varies considerably in composition, being, of course, more concentrated, as a rule, in the tropical regions, where evaporation is most active, such, for example, as in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean near the equator. According to analysis, the water in the English Channel contains in 1000 parts‑

Chloride of Sodium 28.05

Chloride of Magnesium.......................... 3.66

Sulphate of Magnesia 2.29

Sulphate of Lime .................................. 1.40

Other Saline Materials ............................. .76

Total Solid Matter.......................... 36. 16

Besides these, and perhaps contributing largely to the healthful qualities of sea-water, there exist in the ocean small quantities of iodine and bromide, and extremely minute amounts of some of the common metals. It has been found that, by dissolving a little common salt and carbonate of soda, lime and magnesia in distilled sea-water, its taste is rendered much more agreeable; and this plan, it is said, is adopted in the Russian navy.

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As in the last section where they talk about distilling sea water for drinking on ships, this talks about some of the other materials that can be extracted during the distillation process.  With the exception of salt extraction some of these other materials don't seem terribly practical.  Times do change however, and if water is extracted every bit of material that comes with it has to go somewhere whether it can be sold in bulk for mass production of vitamins or horse supplements or what ever.  :)

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

• Vitality of the Heart
  
  

  Vitality of the Heart.  — its vitality is as amazing as its strength.  While life exists this tireless order never stops.  In disease, as long as a flutter of this wondrous organ exists, we know the spark of life is not altogether vanished, and new Hope is begotten that helped me be restored.  Airing such long lives as we sometimes see, the heart has propelled no less than 500,000 tons of blood; and yet, during all this patient, unfaltering and unflinching labor, it is her.  Self as the waste has occurred.

  Heart Rhythms.  –the rhythm of its beats never fails until death breaks into the casket and seizes the ever thriving pendulum at the command of the great Master Workman,  silencing the quivering muscles of the heart and compelling the wheels of like a standstill.

  ___________

  This closes out the introduction to the workings of the heart, and the author ends the section talking about heartbeats or heart rhythms, but in doing so doesn’t talk about heart rhythms or heartbeats at all.  Notice the capitalize reference to Master Workman.  I’m sure would’ve been some sort of sacrilege not to capitalize those two words and so they are capitalized.  But it’s still a little bizarre.  Next section were heading into the digestive system, which is probably just as mysterious to the author as the working of the heart!

• Bones of the Trunk and Arms. Different Forms of Bones
  
  

  On turning over this flap we are brought face to face with a grim looking but useful object — the framework of the trunk and arms.  The skeleton is of a ghastly appearance and emblematic of death; it’s unsightly look sends a thrill of poor through us, and we instinctively recoil from it.  Yet at some serves a useful purpose in the human body, and the ugly looking bones, when carefully examined, abound in nice contrivances and ingenious workmanship; whilst each individual bonus design for the a special duty it has to perform.  Hence the bones different forms; some are long, as in the arms and legs; some are short and thick, giving strength and compactness, as in the lumbar portion of the spine; some are flat, for covering a cavity, as the school and pelvis, and others used for special purpose or irregular, is in the hands and feet.

  just when I thought the book was getting a slightly bit dull, this little section popped out at me as we start to read into some of the peculiar notions the author had regarding the skeletal system.  Various phrases such as “thrill of poor” and “ghastly appearance and emblematic of death” rapidly depart from the tone you would expect from a medical journal or book.  The author goes halfway through the paragraph before they start to get down to the actual topic at hand and shy away from their romantic notions about how scary a skeleton looks.

  It makes me wonder just how much or how little your average person back in the early 1900s may have been exposed to views that included pictures of the skeleton.  Back then there was no TV nor cartoons even to introduce children to the funny side of skeletons, there was no Halloween where children dressed up like skeletons.  The skull and cross bones probably had a much more sinister visual impact on people and to see a skeleton in real life or even in a picture may have been more dramatic.  It definitely seems peculiar here.

• Beauty and Consistency of the Brain
  
  

  Beauty of the Brain Views — every view of the human brain we have seen in this series of magnificent and unparalleled anatomical plates has inspired our admiration and held us spellbound and utter astonishment in amazement at the limitless attributes, the diversified powers, and the variety of functions this wondrous and mysterious organ is called upon to perform in the hourly transaction and business pursuits of daily human life. And yet, notwithstanding the marvelous properties of this elaborate organ, it is the least solid and most unsubstantial looking body of the human casket.

  Consistency of the Brain – it consists of eighty per cent. Of water, seven per cent. of albumen, some phosphorized fat and some other minor substances. Such is the composition of the mighty and powerful organ which rules the world. Whilst the brain is the seat of sensation, yet it can be cut, burned or electrified without causing pain in itself. Strange, passing strange, or the proprieties and powers of the brain!

  These two segments both represents a very strange and slightly ignorant view of the brain. The first section is entirely devoted to talking about the mysteries and relative beauties of the organ known as the brain. On occasion in modern times a professor might leap upon a soap box and go off on a rant or something describing a topic that they are passionate about in the way described above. There’s something about the tone and the use of language that goes far beyond that and makes this language seems some what similar to language we might expect to find in a be styled movie about the past. However this book evidences the fact that such language did exist and in fact was put into print in a medical textbook.

  The second section offers up something that I found some was a pricing. It’s not so much the language but the way the word percent is spelled. Above you will find a word percent spelled with an extra space in between the words per and the words cent with a period following the word cent. I had never considered the possibility that the two words might have been separated a hundred years ago. Now that I’m studying the anatomy of those particular words it strikes me that they do make some logical sense apart. The percentage is a fraction of a whole it can also be viewed as a ratio and so if a whole is made up of one half substance and one half no substance, it could be expressed as one part substance per two parts combined substance and no substance. That thought makes absolutely no sense as I read back on it, but it’s the best I can do to try and piece together those words may be my beautiful brain isn’t working quite up to par this evening!