ADVENTURES OF A PARTICLE OF WATER. 57 



particles ; joins the great army of the ocean's cur- 

 rents ; enters, perchance, the Gulf of Mexico, where 

 it is turned back, and hastens along with the Gulf 

 Stream, with all its natural warmth of character, 

 to ameliorate the climate of Great Britain and the 

 western shores of Europe. Having accomplished 

 this benevolent work, it passes on, with some of its 

 heat and vigour still remaining, to the arctic seas 

 where it is finally robbed of all its heat and nearly 

 all its salt, and frozen into an icicle there for many 

 a long day to exert a chilling influence on the waters 

 and the atmosphere around it. Being melted at last 

 by the hot sun of the short arctic summer, it hurries 

 back with the cold currents of the north to the 

 genial regions of the equator, in search of its lost 

 caloric and salt, taking in a full cargo of lime, &c., 

 as it passes the mouths of rivers. Arrived at its old 

 starting-point, our wanderer receives once more heat 

 and salt to the full, parts with its lime, and at once 

 hastens off on a new voyage of usefulness to give 

 out of its superabundance in exchange for the super- 

 abundance of others : thus quietly teaching man the 

 lesson that the true principles of commerce were 

 carried out in the depths of the sea ages before he 

 discovered them and carried them into practice on 

 its surface. 



Perchance another fate awaits this adventurous 

 particle of water. Mayhap, before it reaches the 

 cold regions of the north, it is evaporated into the 

 clouds, and descends upon the earth in fresh and re- 



