THE SALTS OF THE SEA. I33 



one of its inhabitants — to the wants of the coral insect as well as 

 to those of the whale. Hence we say im know that the sea has 

 its system of circulation, for it transports materials for the coral 

 rock from one part of the world to another ; 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. 



499. Thus, by a process of reasoning which is perfectly philo- 

 sophical, Ave 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 chan- 

 nels belong to an arrangement which may make, and, for aught 

 w^e know to the contrary, which 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 heaven- 

 ly host vn the remotest regions of space. For when the morning 

 stars sang together in the almighty anthem, " the waves also lift- 

 ed up their voice ;" and doubtless, therefore, the harmony in the 

 depths of the ocean is in tune with that which comes from the 

 spheres above. We can not 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 At- 

 lantic, or if the waters of the arms and seas of the Atlantic were 

 confined to those arms and seas, and had no channels of circula- 

 tion by which they could pass out into the ocean, and traverse 

 different latitudes and climates — if this were so, then the machin- 

 ery of the ocean would be as incomplete as that of a watch with- 

 out a balance-wheel; for the waters of these arms and seas would, 

 as to their constituents, become, in the process of time, very dif- 

 ferent from the sea waters in other parts of the world, and their 

 inhabitants would perish for the want of brine of the right strength 

 or of water of the right temperature. 



500. For instance, take the Red Sea and the ^lediterranean by 

 way of illustration. Upon the Red 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 



