70 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE ATMOSPHERE. 



Its Connection with the Physical Geography of the Sea, ^ 113. — Description, 114. — 

 Order in Sea and Air, 119. — The Language and Eloquence of Nature, 120. — The 

 Trade-winds, 122. — Plate I., Circulation of the Atmosphere, 123. — An Illustration, 

 126.— Theory, 128.— Where and why the Barometer stands highest, 133.— The 

 Pleiades, 142. — Trade-wind Clouds, 146. — Forces concerned, 149. — Heat and Cold, 

 150. — How the Winds turn about the Poles, 155. — Offices of the Atmosphere, 159. 

 — Mechanical Power of, 167. — Whence come the Rains for the Northern Hemi- 

 sphere ? 169. — Quantity of Rain in each Hemisphere, 175. — The saltest Portion of 

 the Sea, 179. — The Northeast Trade-winds take up Vapors for the Southern Hem- 

 isphere, 181. — Rainy Seasons, 187. — In Oregon, 189. — California, 191. — Panama, 

 193.— Rainless Regions, 194.— Rainy Side of Mountains, 199.— The Ghauts, 200. 

 — The greatest Precipitation — where it takes place, 203. — Evaporation, 207. — Rate 

 of, in India, 210. — Adaptations of the Atmosphere, 219. 



113. A PHILOSOPHER of the East,* with a richness of imagery 

 truly Oriental, describes the atmosphere as "a spherical shell 

 which surrounds our planet to a depth which is unknown to us, 

 by reason of its growing tenuity, as it is released from the press- 

 ure of its own superincumbent mass. Its upper surface can not 

 be nearer to us than fifty, and can scarcely be more remote than 

 five hundred miles. It surrounds us on all sides, yet we see it 

 not ; it presses on us with a load of fifteen pounds on every square 

 inch of surface of our bodies, or from seventy to one hundred tons 

 on us in all, yet we do not so much as feel its weight. Softer 

 than the softest down — more impalpable than the finest gossamer 

 — it leaves the cobweb undisturbed, and scarcely stirs the lightest 

 flower that feeds on the dew it supplies ; yet it bears the fleets of 

 nations on its wings around the world, and crushes the most re- 

 fractory substances with its weight. When in motion, its force 

 is sufficient to level the most stately forests and stable buildings 

 with the earth — to raise the waters of the ocean into ridges like 

 mountains, and dash the strongest ships to pieces like toys. It 



* Dr. Buist, of Bombay. 



