24 ESSENTIAL TO THE EXISTENCE OF MAN. 



We never tire of the sea ; it is a laboratory in which de- 

 lightful processes are continually being wrought out for our 

 adiniratioi3L,aji4 use. Its flora and its fauna, its waves and 

 ilsUi'des; jtp ,3^Jt^ i^nd its currents, all afford grand and profit- 

 able themes of stud v and thought. But, as interesting as 

 tiieyjia;r^sej)arajteljr,'ai:jd as wonderful, too, they are not half 

 BO niarVelous' as thd offices which, with their aid, the sea 

 performs in the physical economy of our planet. 



Viewed in this light, the ocean, its inhabitants, and its 

 vapors, is a mechanism constructed by the All Wise, of per- 

 fect workmanship. 



It is so fixed and true in its work that nothing can throw 

 it out of gearing ; and yet its returns are so delicate that 

 the task of preserving them is allotted to the minutest of 

 sea dwellers, and to agents apparently the most subtle and 

 fickle. 



They preserve its intricate relations, making its adjust- 

 ments, in beauty and sublimity of effect, to vie with the 

 heavens. These marvelous wonders proclaim, in songs di- 

 vine, that they, too, are the work of holy fingers. 



We may but imperfectly represent this great body of 

 water and the many wonderful objects it contains, but any 

 deficiencies may be supplied later, when the open book of 

 nature is read by thoughtful minds eager for knowledge. 



The ocean is essential to the existence of man and of all 

 vegetation ; it is the great moderator and equalizer of terres- 

 trial climates, purifying the atmosphere that we breathe, and 

 sending off a perpetual supply of vapors, which condense 

 into clouds, and are the sources of moisture and fertility to 

 the soil. We must also think of the facilities afforded for an 

 intercourse with distant nations. It has been remarked that 

 contact with the ocean has unquestionably exercised a bene- 

 ficial influence on the cultivation of the intellect and form- 

 ation of the character of many nations, on the multiplication 

 of those bonds Avhich should unite the whole human race, on 



