At Sea 25 



The ocean is the mother of life. The destroyer has 

 also been the nurse. Without water there can be no 

 life Lean over the prow and listen to the sound of the 

 rushing waves. It recalls the noise of the leaves in the 

 forests when the winds are passing over them. I like 

 to imagine, as I listen, that the sea is prophesying, and 

 declaring that her gift to the earth is to be the wood- 

 lands and the groves. The sun kisses the sea, and the 

 spirits of the waters rise like Aphrodite from the foam, 

 and, veiled in fleecy clouds, flee to the land, sprinkling 

 the sweet distillations of a million leagues of purple 

 water over the thirsty soil, and forthwith Flora awakens 

 and weaves her woodland temples garlanded with 

 blossoms. The lowly mosses of the North, the pines 

 of New England-, and the palms of Brazil are the gift 

 of old ocean. 



Sir John Hunter once said: !< A man is compounded 

 of about twelve pounds of mineral salts and two buckets 

 of water. ' The statement is chemically correct. Every 

 one of us contains in his body a part of the sea, loaned 

 to us for the time being and brought to us as a gift 

 by the clouds and the rain. The earliest forms of 

 animal life upon our planet were marine. From out of 

 the seas came the first ; ' swarms of living creatures"; 

 they were followed in due time by the 'fowls of the 

 air " ; and later by the "beasts of the field. ' The final 

 product of evolution is man. How recent, when studied 

 from the standpoint of the geologist is the history of 

 our race! I stood under the Arch of Titus in Rome a 

 few years ago. I looked up and read the inscription. I 

 said to myself, 'How modern! This arch was built 

 less than two thousand years ago; the great reptile, the 

 reproduction of which I am bringing as a gift to the 

 King of Italy, lived fifteen millions of years ago; but 



