THE OCEAN. ^ 



breathing, if the humidity it derives from the sea were not spread by 

 the winds all over the globe. Tlius the ocean blends the contrasts of 

 climate^ and makes a harmonious whole of all the distinct regions of 

 our planet ; it awakens and preserves life on the earth, which it has 

 deposited layer by layer, which it waters by its vapours, and renders 

 fertile by its springs and its rivers. 





