THE ATMOSPHEEE. 75 



with the regions of precipitation, so he who looks into the 

 phj^sical geography of the sea should search for the regions of 

 evaporation, and for those springs in the ocean which supply the 

 reservoirs among the mountains with water to feed the rivers ; 

 and, in order to conduct this search properly, he must consult 

 the winds, and make himself acquainted with their circuits. 

 Hence, in a work on the Physical Geography of the Sea and its 

 Meteorology, we treat also of the Atmosphere. 



CHAPTEE IV. 



200-268. THE ATMOSPHERE. 



200. Lihened to a macliine. — There is no employment more 

 ennobling to man and his intellect than to trace the evidences 

 of design and purpose, which are visible in many parts of the 

 creation. Hence, to the right-minded mariner, and to him who 

 studies the physical relations of earth, sea, and air, the atmo- 

 sphere is something more than a shoreless ocean, at the bottom of 

 which he creeps along. It is an envelope or covering for the 

 distribution of light and heat over the. surface of the earth ; it is 

 a sewer into which, with every breath we draw, we cast vast 

 quantities of dead animal matter ; it is a laboratory for purifi- 

 cation, in which that matter is recompounded, and wrought 

 again into wholesome and healthful sliapes ; it is a machine for 

 pumping up all the rivers from the sea, and for conveying the 

 water (§ 191) from the ocean to their sources in the mountains ; 

 it is an inexhaustible magazine, marvellously stored. Ui3on the 

 proper working of this machine depends the well-being of every 

 plant and animal that inhabits the earth. How interesting, 

 then, ought not the study of it to be ! An examination of the 

 uses which plants and animals make of the air is sufficient to 

 sa,tisfy any reasoning mind in the conviction that when they 

 were created, the necessity of this adaptation was taken into 

 uccount. The connection between any two parts of an artificial 

 idachine that work into each other, does not render design in its 

 i'onstruction more patent than is the fact that the great atmo- 

 spherical machinp of our planet was constmcted by an Architect 

 who designed it for certain purposes ; therefore the management 

 of it, its movements, and the performance of its ofiices, cannot be 



