THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF THE SEA, ETC. 221 



waters of the Ked Sea become so salt that they cannot make vapour 

 enough to carry off the excessive heat of the solar ray, we may be 

 sure that nature has provided means for carr^dng it off. But for 

 the escape which these highly heated waters are, by means of their 

 saltness, enabled to make from that sea, its climate, as well as the 

 heat of its waters, would be more burning and blasting than the 

 sands of Sahara. Even as it is, the waters of this sea are hotter 

 than the air of the desert. 



452. There is another indication which this little instrument 

 The hydrometer in- Jias affordcd concoming the status of the sea, and 

 latftudes^at^sS?' which doservcs notice. We are at first 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' observa- 

 tions on his homeward passage from San Francisco to Cape Horn 

 furnish the data for the curves {Fig. 1) between 37° N. and 57° S. 

 Now Plate YIII. shows that the equatorial calm belt hes south of 

 the line where it is intersected by the homeward route from Cali- 

 fornia. It also shows that when he crossed the " Doldrums " 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 passing through 

 the ofiings 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 vapour, clouds, and precipitation. 



453. The most comprehensive view that we are permitted to 

 Astronomical view, take of cosmical or terrestrial 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 the design which Omnipotent Intelligence had in view 

 when those relations were established. Such fancies, rightly in- 

 dulged, are always refreshing, and the developments of the hydro- 

 meter which we have been studying point us to one of them. This 

 fancied discovery is, that a sea of &esh water instead of salt would 

 not afford the compensations that are required in the terrestrial 

 economy, and we also fancy that we have almost discovered a 



