210 rnisicAL geoghaphy of tue sea, and its meteorology. 



there had been a faihire in the sublime system of terrestrial 

 adaptations — that the sea had not been adapted by its Creator to 

 the well-being of all its inhabitants. Now we do know that its 

 adaptations are suited to all the wants of every one of its inha- 

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

 the whale. Thns our simple hypothesis acquires the majesty of 

 truth, for we are now prepared boldly to assert ive know that the 

 sea has its system of circulation, because it transports materials 

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

 another ; because its currents receive them from the rivers, and 

 hand them over to the little mason for the structure of the most 

 stupendous 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 perfect^ philosophical, we are irresistibly 

 led to conjecture 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 atmo- 

 sphere 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 lifted up their voice " in chorus ; and doubtless, 

 therefore, the harmony in the depths of the ocean is in tune with 

 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. Ditto hj the Bed Sea. — ^For instance, take the Eed Sea and 

 the Mediterranean by way of illustration. 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 



