EVAPORATION OF THE SEA. 85 



the relation of the ocean to the lakes and rivers 

 of the globe. The waters of the ocean, as already 

 stated, are the source of supply for all the innu- 

 merable rivers and lakes in the old and new world. 

 " There is not a fountain," says an eloquent writer, 

 " that gushes in the unfrequented desert, nor a 

 rivulet that flows in the remotest continent, nor a 

 cloud that swims in the highest regions of the 

 firmament, but is fed by this all-replenishing 

 source." 



If we regard the continent of South and North 

 America only, with its deep and wide rivers of 

 fresh water and magnificent inland seas, if we 

 keep in mind that these lakes and rivers are sup- 

 plied entirely by the evaporation of the sea water, 

 we cease to wonder that the source of a supply 

 so vast must itself be so inexhaustible. Nor are 

 any of those great rivers greater than is requisite 

 for the requirements of the animal and vegetable 

 world ; for, although a large quantity of the water 

 carried down by the rivers finds its way into the 

 sea, it does so only after having been circulated 

 by thousands of brooks and rills, like so many veins 

 and arteries, throughout the valleys and plains, 

 carrying life, freshness, and beauty, to places which 

 must otherwise have been as dry and barren as 

 the deserts of Asia or Africa. The atmosphere 

 may be regarded as the vast distilling apparatus 

 by which the salt waves are converted into pure 

 and fresh water. In evaporation the watery par- 

 ticles alone are raised into the atmosphere, the 

 ingredients previously incorporated with them, and 



G 3 



