I I 2 THE GREAT CELESTIAL RESEPvVOIRS. 



it, the stars were fixed like so many precious stones 

 set in gold or silver. * 



Let us endeavour to point out how far these crude 

 theories are modified, or explained, by the light of 

 modern science. 



That reservoirs do exist, containing supplies incon- 

 ceivably vast, constantly stored up above us, is indis- 

 putable; and those who may have honoured us by an 

 attentive perusal of the remarkable instances of heavy rain 

 storms related in the preceding pages, from the works 

 of writers whose bona fides and accuracy are beyond 

 question will doubtless have been struck by the extra- 

 ordinary amount of water which can, under certain 

 conditions, be precipitated from above in a wonderfully 

 brief space of time. 



It is also necessary to bear in mind that however 

 much these very exceptional rainfalls may excite 

 astonishment, they proceed only from an infinitesimally 

 small portion of the whole atmosphere, which as one 

 of its normal conditions forms the conduit pipe, if we 

 may so express it, which conveys every drop of water 

 that fills the fountains, lakes, streams and great rivers 

 of the world. Looked at in this light, we may perhaps 

 partly realize the stupendous magnitude of the volume 

 of water constantly floating above, and around us, in 

 the form of vapour. 



These therefore are "the superior waters" their 

 reservoirs are the winds of Heaven. But modern 

 meteorological science teaches us that they exist not 

 in the form of water, but as invisible and impalpable 

 aqueous vapour and that the same power which acts 



* See Cruden's Concordance, article " Firmament " ; also same art. in. 

 Dr. W. Smith's Diet, of the Bible, 1863, vol. I, p. 621. 



