102 SEASIDE DIVINITY. 



western shores of Ireland and the north-western 

 shores of Scotland, possess a climate greatly 

 milder and moister than the eastern coasts, and 

 it is not to be doubted that this difference is 

 occasioned by the current of the Grulf Stream, 

 which, touching our western shores, imparts to 

 the climate the mildness of its character by dif- 

 fusing a portion of the galoric brought from 

 warmer latitudes. It is for this reason, for ex- 

 ample, that the western shores of Sutherland- 

 shire, although so much further north than other 

 parts of Scotland, possess a climate so soft and 

 genial, and exhibit such early and luxuriant 

 vegetation ; and it is for the same reason that the 

 climate of the Orkney and Shetland islands ap- 

 proaches so nearly to that of Torquay. That this 

 circulation of warmth from one part of the globe 

 to another is evidence of a wise design, and that 

 the saltness of the ocean is a part of the instru- 

 mentality by which that design is carried out, no 

 intelligent observer can doubt, any more than he 

 can doubt that the design of the fabricator of the 

 eye was that it should be an instrument of vision, 

 or that the wings and limbs of animals should be 

 organs of locomotion. 



Independently, however, of its relation to the 

 circulation of the oceanic currents, the composition 

 of the sea-water ought to be regarded in another 

 point of view. In addition to the coral-making 

 polypes who extract the lime it contains for their 

 vast submarine structures, there are countless 

 myriads of creatures inhabiting the deep who 



