THE ATMOSPHERE. 79 



is this (Plate I.) : an ascent in a place of calms about the north 

 pole at P ; an efflux thence as an upper current (§ 129) until it 

 meets G (also an upper current) over the calms of Cancer. Here 

 (§ 130) there is supposed to he a descent, as shown by the arrows 

 along the wavy lines which envelop the circle. This upper cur- 

 rent from the pole (§ 124) now becomes the northeast trade-wind, 

 B (§ 134), on the surface, until it meets the southeast trades in 

 the equatorial calms, when it ascends and travels as C with the 

 upper current to the calms of Capricorn, then as D with the pre- 

 vailing northwest surface current to the south pole, thence up 

 with the arrow"?, and around with the hands of a watch, and 

 back, as indicated by the arrows along E, F, G, and H. 



140. The Bible frequently makes allusions to the laws of na- 

 ture, their operation and effects. But such allusions are often so 

 wrapped in the folds of the peculiar and graceful drapery w^ith 

 which its language is occasionally clothed, that the meaning, 

 though peeping out from its thin covering all the while, yet lies 

 in some sense concealed, until the lights and revelations of science 

 are thrown upon it ; then it bursts out and strikes us with ex- 

 quisite force and beauty. 



141. As our knowledge of nature and her laws has increased, 

 so has our understanding of many passages in the Bible been im- 

 proved. The Psalmist called the earth " the round world ;" yet 

 for ages it was the most damnable heresy for Christian men to say 

 the world is round ; and, finally, sailors circumnavigated the globe, 

 proved the Bible to be right, and saved Christian men of science 

 from the stake. 



142. " Canst thou tell the sweet influences of the Pleiades ?" 

 Astronomers of the present day, if they have not answered this 



question, have thrown so much light upon it as to show that, if 

 ever it be answered by man, he must consult the science of astron- 

 omy. It has been recently all but proved, that the earth and sun, 

 with their splendid retinue of comets, satellites, and planets, are 

 all in motion around some point or centre of attraction inconceiv- 

 ably remote, and that that point is in the direction of the star Al- 

 cyon, one of the Pleiades ! Who but the astronomer, then, could 

 tell their " sweet influences ?" 



