AUDAdfy OP kXPLOUEns. 2H3 



air, and carry it with liim to the farthermost depths 

 of the ocean, what service conld he extract from so 

 marvellous a provision, if his eyes, constructed so as 

 to give him the power of vision in a limpid and 

 dazzlingly himinous atmosphere, made him conscious 

 only of darkness, and left him a defenceless prey to 

 the voracity of the monsters of the deep ? 



But man is ambitious to assert his sovereign right 

 over the whole globe ; universal nature is his inheri- 

 tance, and he studies her every phase and all her 

 changing humours with patience. In his thirst for 

 knowledge he fearlessly grapples witli, and seldom 

 fails to overcome, whatever obstacle may be thrown 

 in liis path. With a sublime audacity he would 

 penetrate and master, in every direction, an empire 

 the limits of which appear to him to be too narrow. 

 He is not satisfied to run with lightning-speed over 

 the surface of the earth ; he would also cleave the 

 air like a bird, and dispute their darkest and dreariest 

 retreats with the inhabitants of the seas. As if 

 conscious of her irresistible attractions, the Ocean 

 allows him occasional glimpses of her treasured 

 charms, and, at the same time, one might almost 

 say that she defies him to deprive her of any portion 

 of them. Corals, sponges, and pearls have to be 

 snat(*hed from her depths. The magnificent pur[)l » 

 of the ancients — sepia, mother-of-pearl, ambergris — 



