2l8 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



or fouth-wefl: wind, for a few days, to difengage 

 from the ice the fouthern coaft of Nova-Zembla, 

 and to clear the ftrait of Waigats, as has been ob- 

 ferved by Martens^ Barents, and other Navigators 

 of the North. 



it is farther faid, in the Book of Genefis, *^ all 

 " the fountains of the great Deep were broken up, 

 " and the windows of Heaven were opened." The 

 expreflion, the fountains of the great Deep, can, in 

 my opinion, be applied only to an efFufion of the 

 polar ices, which are the real fources of the Sea, as 

 the effufions of the ice on mountains are the 

 fources of all the great rivers. The exprelTion, the 

 windows, or catarafts, of Heaven, denotes likewife, 

 if I am not miftaken, the univerfal refolution of 

 the waters diffufed over the Atmofphere, which 

 are there fupported by the cold, the focufes of 

 which were then deflroyed at the Poles. 



It is afterwards faid, in Genefis, that after it had 

 rained for forty days, GOD made a zvind to blow, 

 which caufed the waters that covered the Earth to 

 difappear. This wind, undoubtedly, brought 

 back to the Poles the evaporations of the Ocean, 

 which fixed themfelves a-new in ice. The Mofaic 

 account, finally, adds circumftances which feem to 

 refer all the effeds of this wind to the Poles of the 

 World, for it is faid Gen. viii. 2,3. " The foun- 



" tains 



