228 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 



The hydrometer in- has afforded conceming the status of the sea, and 



(licates the rainy ^ ^ . ° 



latitudes at sea. which deseives notice. We are at nrst puzzled 

 with the remarkably light water between 9° and 16° S., Fig. 1, 

 and in Fig. 2 between 7° and 9° N., as well as in 19° N. But, after 

 a little examination, we are charmed with the discovery that the 

 hydrometer points out the rainy regions at sea. Eodgers' obser- 

 vations on his homeward passage from San Francisco to Cape 

 Horn furnish the data for the curves {Fig. 1) between 87° IST. and 

 57° S. Now Plate YIII. shows that the equatorial calm belt lies 

 south of the line where it is intersected by the homeward route 

 from California. It also shows that when he crossed the " Dol- 

 drums" in the Atlantic, that belt was in north latitude about 7°- 

 10°, and that when he was in 18°-20° N. {Fig. 2) he was then pass- 

 ing through the of&ngs of what are called the "Leeward Islands" 

 of the West Indies, and that these are rainy latitudes at sea — ^the 

 first two being under the cloud ring, the last being near the land 

 in the trade- wind region, and confirming the remark so often made 

 concerning the influence of islands at sea upon vapor, clouds, and 

 precipitation. 



453. The most comprehensive view that we are permitted to 

 Astronomical vicTv. takc of cosmical or tcrrcstrial arrangements and 

 adaptations is at best narrow and contracted. Nevertheless, in 

 studying the mechanism which Wisdom planned and the Great 

 Architect of nature designed for the world, we sometimes fancy 

 that we can discover a relation between the different parts of the 

 wonderful machinery, and perceive some of the reasons and almost 

 comprehend parts of the design which Omnipotent Intelligence 

 had in view when those relations were established. Such fancies, 

 rightly indulged, are always refreshing ; and the developments of 

 the hydrometer which we have been studying point us to one of 

 them. This fancied discovery is, that a sea of fresh water instead 

 of salt would not afford the compensations that are required in 

 the terrestrial economy; we also fancy that we have almost dis- 

 covered a relation between the orbit of the earth and the arrange- 

 ment of land and water on its surface and their bearing upon 

 climate. Our planet passes its perihelion during the southern 

 summer, when it is nearer the centre and source of light and heat 

 by more than three millions of miles than it is at its winter sol- 

 stice, so that, on the 1st of January, the total amount of heat re- 



