THE SALTS OF THE SEA. 239 



of the sea as though they were in a bottle, and which, in the 

 course of time, mingle those that are in one part of the ocean 

 with those that are in another as thoroughly and completely as it 

 is possible for a man to do in a vessel of his own construction. 

 This fact as to uniformity of components appears to call for the 

 hypothesis that sea water which to-day is in one part of the ocean, 

 will, in the process of time, be found in another part the most 

 remote. It must, therefore, be carried about by currents ; and 

 as these currents have their offices to perform in the terrestrial 

 economy, they probably do not flow by chance, but in obedience 

 to physical laws ; they no doubt, therefore, assist to maintain 

 the order and preserve the harmony whi(5h characterize every 

 depai-tment of God's handywork, and as such we treat them. 



465. Arguments afforded hy corallines in favour of. — This hypo- 

 thesis about currents is based upon our faith in the physical 

 adaptations with which the sea is invested. Take, for example, 

 the coral islands, reefs, beds, and atolls with which the Pacific 

 Ocean is studded and garnished. They were built up of materials 

 which a certain kind of insect quarried from the sea water. The 

 currents of the sea ministered to this little insect — they were its 

 hod carriers. When fresh supplies of solid matter were wanted 

 for the coral rock upon which the foundations of the Polynesian 

 Islands were laid, these hod-carriers brought them in unfailing 

 streams of sea water, loaded with food and building materials for 

 the coralline. The obedient currents, therefore, must thread the 

 widest and the deepest seas, for they never fail to come at the right 

 time, nor refuse to give place and go after they have ministered 

 to the hungry creature. Unless the currents of the sea were 

 employed to carry off from this insect the waters that have been 

 emptied by it of their lime, and to bring to it others charged 

 with more, it is evident the little creature would have peri&hed 

 for want of food long before its task was half completed. But 

 for currents, it would have been impaled in a nook of the veiy 

 drop of water in which it was brought forth ; for it would have 

 soon secreted the lime contained in this drop, and then, without 

 the ministering aid of currents to bring it more, it would have 

 perished for the want of food for itself and materials for its 

 edifice ; and thus, but for the benign currents which took this 

 exhausted water away, there we perceive this emptied drop 

 would have remained, not only as the grave of the little architect, 

 but as a monument in attestation of the shocking monstrosity that 



