116 THE ORIGIN OF CREATION. 



we boil the water long enough, it will all vanish into air, or its 

 original elements, therefore according to Tyndall's own showing, 

 water is all air. If water contained air, we should think it 

 would he enclosed when frozen into ice. But Prof. Tyndall 

 declares that it is not so, " for although ice is full of small 

 "bubbles, they are not filled with air." 



Mr. H. Higgins in "Eraser's Magazine" 1870, on "The 

 water we should not drink," says : " A considerable volume of 

 air is absorbed by water." " In this and in other ways 

 (bubbling over falls and among rocks) water receives atmos- 

 pheric air, without which it would fail of the purposes for 

 which it was ordained. It is necessary to the existence of the 

 creatures who live in the water, and for the continued purity of 

 the water itself." 



This statement is plainly incorrect, for if water were capable 

 of absorbing air by a process of agitation, then when we 

 introduce a small quantity into a large vessel of water, it ought 

 to permeate itself through it, and not show itself; but it 

 invariably (except when confined by pressure) comes to the 

 surface in bubbles, and disappears, thereby showing that water 

 has an aversion to air. Water may be, however, saturated with 

 air by mechanical pressure, as in soda water or champagne, the 

 pressure while corked not allowing the air to escape. 



The idea that fish use their gills to assimilate air for them- 

 selves, is a grand mistake ; for the motion of the mouth and gills 

 of the fish, is not a breathing process, but one for filtering, or 

 separating their food from the water with which it is combined. 

 This can be proved by observing the peculiar construction of 

 the gills of certain kinds of fish, and the nature of their food. 

 The shark and the dog-fish have but little or no gills, (neither 



