XU INTRODUCTION. 



Gilt the most sj^eedy routes for ships to follow over the ocean, but 

 also of teaching us sailors to look about us, and see by what Vv^onder- 

 fiil manifestations of the wisdom and goodness of the great God we 

 are continually surrounded. 



"For myself, lam free to confess that for many years I com- 

 manded a ship ; and, although never insensible to the beauties of 

 natm-e upon the sea or land, I yet feel that, until I took up your 

 work, I had been traversing the ocean blindfolded. I did not 

 think ; I did not know the amazing and beautiful combination of 

 all the works of Him whom you so beautifully term 'the Great 

 Fkst Thought.' 



"I feel that, aside from any pecuniary profit to myself from 

 your labours, you have done me good as a man. You have taught 

 me to look above, around, and beneath me, and recognize God's 

 hand in every element by which I am surrounded. I am grateful 

 for this personal benefit. Your remarks on this subject, so fre- 

 quently made in your Avork, cause in me feelings of the greatest 

 admiration, although my capacity to comprehend your beautiful 

 theory is very limited. 



'' The man of such sentiments as you express will not be dis- 

 pleased with, or, at least, will know how to excuse, so much of what 

 (in a letter of this kind) might be termed irrelevant matter. I have 

 therefore spoken as I feel, and with sentiments of the greatest respect." 



Sentiments like these cannot fail to meet with a hearty re- 

 sponse from all good men, whether ashore or afloat. Admkal 

 Fitz Eoy, admitting the value of the practical results abeady 

 derived by commerce and navigation from these researches, is of 

 opinion that their mfluence in improving and elevating the mind 

 of the British seaman also, can scarcely be of less importance. 



Kever before has such a corps of observers been enlisted in the 

 cause of any department of physical science as is that which is 

 now about to be engaged m advancing our knowledge of the Physical 

 Geography of the Sea, and never before have men felt such an 

 interest with regard to this knoAvledge. 



Under the term "Physical Geography and its Meteorology," 

 will be included a philosophical account of the winds and currents 

 of the sea ; of the circulation of the atmosphere and ocean ; of the 

 temperature and depth of the sea ; of the wonders that He hidden 

 in its depths ; and of the phenomena that display themselves at its 

 siuface. In short, I shall treat of the economy of the sea and its 

 iidaptations — of its salts, its w^aters, its climates, and its inhabitants, 



