SYSTEM IN ALL THINGS. 33 



" fulfilling God's word " (which information we are 

 bound to receive as a matter of faith if we be 

 Christians, and as a matter of necessity if we be 

 men of common sense, because it is mere absurdity 

 to suppose that the " stormy winds," &c., are not 

 fulfilling God's word or will), we now know, to a 

 great extent from practical experience and scientific 

 investigation, that the winds blow and the waters of 

 the ocean flow in grand, regular, uninterrupted cur- 

 rents. Amongst these there are numberless eddies, 

 which, perhaps, have tended to fill our minds with the 

 idea of irregularity and confusion ; but which, never- 

 theless, as well as the grand currents themselves, 

 are subject to law, and are utterly devoid of caprice. 



In regard to these matters there is much about 

 which we are still in ignorance. But the investi- 

 gations of late years especially those conducted 

 under the superintendence of Captain Maury of the 

 American Navy, and Drs. Carpenter and Thompson 

 of England have shown that our atmosphere and 

 our ocean act in accordance with a systematic 

 arrangement, many facts regarding which have 

 been discovered, and turned, in some cases, to prac- 

 tical account.* 



A very interesting instance of the practical use to 

 which scientific inquiry can be turned, even in its 

 beginnings, is given by Maury. After telling us of 

 the existence and nature of a current in the ocean 



* The gentlemen here referred to are agreed as to the fact of syste- 

 matic arrangement of currents, though they differ in regard to some 

 of the causes thereof and other mattei'S. 



