6 AN OCEAN FALLEN FROM THE SKIES. 



it in the least explain how the waters of the ocean were first 

 evolved out of nothing. That they must originally have 

 come from the atmosphere, in some form, there does not 

 seem much room to doubt. The condition of the 

 older rocks shows beyond question that they were 

 subjected to the action of intense heat, and many of 

 them probably assumed their present position in a 

 more or less molten condition. It must have been 

 long after this that the waters of the ocean flowed 

 into the great hollow of the Abyssal Region, which 

 the Scripture has more than once likened to " the 

 hollow of the Creator's hand;" and that being so, it 

 is more than probable that the same process which 

 formed these waters (most likely that of the chemical 

 combination of gases) is still operating, though possibly 

 in a lesser degree. How much of the terrestrial 

 rainfall may be due to such cause it is of course 

 impossible to tell, nor shall we presume to hazard 

 even a guess respecting that of which we know abso- 

 lutely nothing. 



What we desire to contend for is that from what- 

 soever source they may proceed, the supplies of 

 water which descend from the skies to nourish the dry 

 land, and also to maintain the sea at its present level, 

 do undoubtedly come from the atmosphere. 



If that one item, the watery vapour of the atmosphere, 

 was to become dispersed into the realms of everlasting 

 space, instead of being condensed and returned to 

 the earth again in the form of rain, let us ask What 

 would be the result? Why, that every form of life 

 upon the land would perish through drought; the 

 streams and the rivers would cease to flow, and finally 

 the ocean itself would become a dry plain of saline 



