406 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



ice and all, toward the baryliydric (or heavy-water) zone; and (2) to- 

 ward the equator, where it meets a similar current from the opposite 

 pole, and must eventually become warmed itself in turn. There it 

 underruns and lifts all the waters, rising itself as it becomes warmed 

 and displacing the very warm waters at the surface, which must of 

 necessity flow away in both directions toward the poles. Thus is cir- 

 culation in the oceans maintained. 



What a beneficent provision of the Creator ! Could anything be 

 arranged more admirably or with greater wisdom for the welfare and 

 happiness of mankind and all animate creation ? 



For, suppose for a moment that the greatest density of water were 

 at 60° instead of 39°. The zones of greatest density and most fre- 

 quent storms, instead of being near the polar circles, as at present, 

 would be near the tropics ; in the North Atlantic, say from Florida to 

 North Africa, and in the South Atlantic from Rio de Janeiro to South 

 Africa. Between those zones the surface currents would be from the 

 deepest equatorial or hottest seas. Outside of those zones, in the 

 oceans, all surface currents near the shores would be from the poles ; 

 the land on either side would experience arctic weather whenever the 

 wind blew from the ocean. 



But there would be no polar ice cap unless the pole were in the 

 heart of a continent. The temperature of the water at the bottom of 

 even a polar sea would be about 60^; and as the waters there must 

 rapidly cool and come to the surface, the shores of a polar ocean 

 would be more habitable than the interior of a great continent above 

 latitude 50°, or say up to 3000 miles from the pole. 



The equatorial seas, by reason of the circulation being restricted 

 to little more than half the quantity of water, would have nearly 

 double the difference in temperature between the bottom and surface 

 that they now have. 



The temperature of the bottom of the equatorial seas at present is 

 about 39.2° F.; of the surface about 84.2°. That makes a difference 

 of 45°; double that would be, say 90°. If, then, the bottom of the 

 seas near the equator were 60°, which would have to be the case, and 

 the surface were 90° higher, the surface would be 150°, too, great to 

 support life such as we now know. All oceanic currents, too, would 

 be furious instead of gentle, as at present. Evaporation would be 

 much more rapid than at present and condensation more swift and 

 sudden. There would be no temperate climate on the earth; all 

 would be either frigid or torrid, or both together. The tropics would 

 be the abiding-place of violent storms. 



How much, then, must we admire the superlative, the infinite wis- 

 dom and goodness of the great Creator in so fashioning us that 

 everything as made is for our greatest enjoyment and welfare. 



