A WORLD WITHOUT AN OCEAN. ol 



arc found. We shall thus review the various kinds of 

 sea coast, whether rocky or sandy, and glance at 

 some marine objects which are only seen in the deeper 

 waters. 



Enough has been said to show that on the con- 

 tinued equilibrium, and the regulated movement of 

 the sea, the welfare of the animal and vegetable crea- 

 tion depends. It would be idle to speculate further 

 on what the world would be, had the ocean no exist- 

 ence. Its physical aspect, under such circumstances, 

 has already been glanced at, and may perhaps be illus- 

 trated by what we now know of the condition of the 

 moon, where the existence of water has been, by many 

 observers, questioned, and where the surface presents 

 frightful gulfs and enormous mountains, supposed to 

 be the result of powerful volcanic action. Such we 

 may conceive would be the issue of a purely mineral 

 world, formed, like the ball of the earth, of numerous 

 elementary substances endued with chemical affinities, 

 and placed in juxtaposition, so as to be capable of 

 acting on one another. In such a case, a violent 

 effervescence or chemical action would take place : 

 metals would be oxydised ; acids formed, which, unit- 

 ing with the oxydised metals, would produce neutral 

 salts ; and these and similar changes would be re- 

 peated until every chemical attraction had been satis- 

 fied. There could then be no further change, and we 

 should have a world, if such the "lifeless lump " could 

 be called, formed of neutral salts and cinders, for ever 

 revolving in space, without a history or an aim, and 

 while partaking of God's sunshine, offering Him no 



