THE SALTS OF THE SEA. 207 



or whether the main object was, as the distinguished professor 

 suggests, to regulate evaporation, it is not necessary now or here 

 to discuss. I think we may regard all the objects of the salts of 

 the sea as inain objects. 



" But we see in the professor's experiments the dawn of more 

 new beauties, and the appearance of other exquisite compensa- 

 tions, which, in studying the 'wonders of the deep,' we have so 

 often paused to contemplate and admire. As the trade-wind re- 

 gion feeds the air with the vapor of fresh water, the process of 

 evaporation is checked, for the water which remains, being Salter, 

 parts with its vapor less readily ; and thus, by the salts of the sea, 

 floods may be prevented. But again, if the evaporating surface 

 were to grow Salter and Salter, whence would the winds derive 

 vapor duly to replenish the earth with showers ; for the Salter the 

 surface, the more scanty the evaporation. Here is compensation, 

 again, the most exquisite ; and we perceive how, by reason of the 

 salts of the sea, drought and famine, if not prevented, may be, and 

 probably are, regulated and controlled ; for that compensation 

 which assists to regulate the amount of evaporation, is surely con- 

 cerned in adjusting also the quantity of rain. Were the salts of 

 the sea lighter instead of heavier than the water, they would, as 

 they feed the winds with moisture for the cloud and the rain, re- 

 main at its surface, and become more niggardly in their supplies, 

 and finally the winds would howl over the sea in very emptiness, 

 and instead of cool and refreshing sea breezes to fan the invalid 

 and nourish the plants, we should have the gentle trade-wind 

 coming from the sea in frightful blasts of parched, and thirsty, and 

 blighting air. But their salts, with their manifold and marvelous 

 adaptations, come in here as a counterpoise, and, as the waters at- 

 tain a certain degree of saltness, they become too heavy to remain 

 longer in contact with the thirsty trade-winds, and are carried 

 down, because of their salts, into the depths of the ocean ; and 

 thus the winds are dieted with vapor in due and wholesome quan- 

 tities. 



" In this view of the subject, and for the purpose of carrying on 

 the investigations which Professor Chapman's interesting paper 

 suggests, observations upon the specific gravity of sea water be- 



