HIS PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA 71 



takes to study its phenomena must cease to regard it as 

 a waste of waters. He must look upon it as a part of that 

 exquisite machinery by which the harmonies of nature 

 are preserved, and then he will begin to perceive the 

 developments of order and the evidences of design; 

 these make it a most beautiful and interesting subject 

 for contemplation". 



This idea of divine order and design occurs again and 

 again in the book like the motive in a piece of music; 

 in fact, Maury, though he did not formally enter the 

 church until late in life, was a very religious man and 

 well read in the Bible, quotations from which appear in 

 his writings by the dozen. He had very definite ideas 

 about the relation betwen science and the Bible, and 

 declared that it was his rule never to forget who was the 

 Author of the great volume which Nature spreads out 

 before men, and always to remember that the same 

 Being was the author of the book which revelation holds 

 forth for contemplation. It was his opinion that, though 

 the works were entirely different, their records were 

 equally true, and that when they bear upon the same 

 point, as they occasionally do, it would be impossible 

 for them to contradict each other. If the two cannot 

 be reconciled, the fault therefore is in man's weakness 

 and blindness in interpreting them aright. 



To return to the * 'Physical Geography of the Sea", the 

 chapter on the atmosphere contains many noteworthy 

 passages such as the following: ". . . The atmosphere 

 is something more than a shoreless ocean, at the bottom 

 of which he (man) creeps along. It is an envelope or 

 covering for the dispersion of light and heat over the 

 surface of the earth; it is a sewer into which, with every 

 breath we draw, we cast vast quantities of dead animal 



