CHAPTER I. ^ . ^ 



THE 00EAIT—IT8 LAWS AND ELEMENTS. 



:N the beginning," the sacred historian informs 

 us, " God created the heavens and the earth: 

 and the earth was without form and void, and 

 darkness was upon the face of the deep, and 

 THE Spirit of God moved upon the face 



OF THE waters." 



How wondrously solemn and grand are these inspired and 

 holy words! What human imagination can fully realize 

 their sublimity? In a few plain but soul-stirring sentences 

 the great mystery of creative power is unfolded, and the 

 mind gets bewildered in the contemplation of such vastness, 

 beauty, and beneficence. We may exclaim with the royal 

 psalmist, " Thou, even Thou, art Lord alone ; Thou hast 

 made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host; 

 the earth, and all things that are therein ; the seas, and all 

 that are therein; and Thou preservest them all." 



On the second day, or generation, uprose progressively 

 the fine fluids or waters of the firmament, and filled the blue 

 ethereal void with a vital atmosphere. The third day, or 

 generation, the waters . more properly so called, or the 

 grosser or more compact fluids of the general mass, were 

 gathered together into the vast bed of the ocean, and dry 

 land began to make its appearance. 



No subject, surely, could be more delightful than the study 

 of the " world of waters " and its strange inhabitants, and 

 there is none upon which the mind of man has been more 

 absorbed in inquiry and research. 



