"The earth is covered over more than two-thirds of its surface with a solution of chloride of sodium, which, by the waves breaking into foam, is transformed continually into spray; the particles of sea-water, which reach the atmosphere in this way, evaporate and leave behind them motes of salt which vary in magnitude, but, as it appears, are rarely absent from the atmosphere, and, perhaps, serve to supply the small organisms the salt which the larger plants and animals secure from the ground."