THE SALTS OF THE SEA. ^3l 



inhabitants — to the wants of the coral insect as well as to those 

 of the whale. Thus our simple hypothesis acquires the majesty 

 of truth, for we are now prepared boldly to assert ice knotu that 

 the sea has its system of circulation, because it transports mate- 

 rials for the coral insect and its rock from one part of the world to 

 another ; because its currents receive them from the riyers, and hand 

 them over to the little mason for the structure of the most stupen- 

 dous works of solid masonry that man has ever seen — the coral 

 islands of the sea. Thus, and moreover, by a process of reasoning 

 which is perfectly philosophical, we are irresistibly led to con- 

 jectm-e that there are regular and certain, if not appointed channels 

 through which the water travels from one part of the ocean to 

 another, and that those channels belong to an arrangement which 

 may make, and which, for ought we know to the contrary, does 

 make the system of oceanic circulation as complete, as perfect, 

 and as harmonious as is that of the atmosphere or the blood. 

 Every drop of water in the sea is as obedient to law and order as 

 are the members of the heavenly host in the remotest regions of 

 space ; for when the morning stars sang together in the almighty 

 anthem, we are told " the waves also Hfted up their voice " in 

 chorus ; and doubtless, therefore, the harmony in the depths of the 

 ocean is in tune mth that which comes from the spheres above. 

 We cannot doubt it ; for, were it not so, were there no channels 

 of circulation from one ocean to another, and if, accordingly, the 

 waters of the Atlantic were confined to the Atlantic, or if the 

 waters of the arms and seas of the Atlantic were confined to 

 those arms and seas, and had no channels of circulation by which 

 they could pass out into the ocean, and traverse different latitudes 

 and climates — if this were so, then the machinery of the ocean 

 would be as incomplete as that of a watch without a balance-wheel. 

 466. For instance, take the Ked Sea and the Mediterranean by 

 Ditto by the Red Way of iUustratiou. Upon the Eed Sea there is no 

 ^^^ precipitation; it is a rainless region; not a river 



runs down to it, not a brook empties into it ; therefore there is no 

 process by which the salts and washings of the earth, which are 

 taken up and held in solution by rain or river water, can be 

 brought down into the Eed Sea. Its salts come from the ocean, 

 and the air takes up from it, in the process of evaporation, fresh 

 water, leaving behind, for the cmTents to carry away, the solid 

 matter which, as sea water, it held in solution. On the other 

 hand, numerous rivers discharge themselves into the Mediter- 



