206 HISTORY or ^ ; 



sons who go into a warm bath, coine out several 

 ounces heavier than they went in ; their bodies 

 having imbibed a correspondent quantity of water. 

 This more particularly happens, if they have been 

 previously debarred from drinking, or go in with 

 a violent thirst j which they quickly find quench- 

 ed* and their spirits restored* It was supposed, 

 that in case of a total failure of fresh water at sea* 

 a warm bath might be made of sea water, for the 

 use of mariners ; and that their pores would thus 

 imbibe the fluid, without any of its salts, which 

 would be seen to Crystallize on the surface of 

 their bodies. In this manner, it is supposed, a 

 sufficient quantity of moisture may be procured 

 to sustain life, till time or accident furnish a more 

 copious supply. 



But, however this be, the saltness of the sea 

 can by no means be considered as a principal 

 cause in preserving its waters from putrefaction. 

 The ocean has its currents, like rivers, which cir- 

 culate its contents round the globe ; and these 

 may be said to be the great agents that keep it 

 Sweet and wholesome* Its saltness alone would 

 by no means answer this purpose ; and some 

 have even imagined, that the various substances 

 with which it is mixed* rather tend to promote 

 putrescence than impede it. Sir Robert Hawkins, 

 one of our most enlightened navigators, gives the 

 following account of a calm, in which the sea 

 continuing for some time without motion, began 

 to assume a very formidable appearance. " Were 

 it not," says he, " for the moving of the sea, by 

 the force of winds, tides, and currents, it would 



