THE STORY-BOOK OF SCIENCE 



gether ; from the sea, whose abysses go down at some 

 places to the depth of 14 kilometers, and receive un- 

 ceasingly the tribute of all the water-courses of the 

 world, without ever being taxed beyond their ca- 

 pacity. The enormous surface of the sea furnishes 

 the air with vapor which turns into clouds; later 

 these clouds dissolve in rain and, chased by the wind, 

 travel like immense watering-pots over the ground, 

 rendering it fertile. In their turn, rain and snow, 

 precipitated by the clouds, give birth to the rivers 

 that carry their waters to the sea. In that way a 

 continual current is effected which, starting from the 

 sea, returns to the sea, after having traveled through 

 the atmosphere in the form of clouds, watered the 

 earth as rain, and crossed continents as rivers. 



"The sea is the common reservoir of the waters. 

 Kivers, springs, fountains, every little brooklet, all 

 come from and all return to it. The water of a dew- 

 drop, the water that circulates in the sap of plants, 

 the water that forms beads of perspiration on our 

 foreheads, all come from the sea and are on their 

 way back to it. However small the little drop, do 

 not fear that it will lose its way. If the arid sand 

 drinks it up, the sun will know how to draw it out 

 again and send it to rejoin the vapor in the atmos- 

 phere and, sooner or later, to reenter the ocean- 

 basin. Nothing is lost, nothing escapes the eye of 

 God, who has measured the oceans in the hollow of 

 His hand, and knows the number of their drops of 

 water,'' 



