234 CONCLUSION. 



but also a great purifier and revivifier of the earth 

 and sweetener of the atmosphere. God is the great 

 first cause of all that is and that operates in the 

 universe. It were an act of presumption to inquire 

 into what we may term the first acts of the Al- 

 mighty's power. But there is no presumption on 

 the contrary there is propriety, as well as the highest 

 gratification of which the human mind is capable 

 in penetrating through the paths of knowledge up 

 to that first series of second causes which circle like 

 a glory round the fountain-head. We may not put 

 the question, " How did God create all things out of 

 nothing'?" but, all things having been created, it 

 is quite legitimate to inquire how the circles of their 

 manifold operations are carried on, and in what re- 

 spect the things that be do affect each other. 



No book that has of late years issued from the 

 press treats more eloquently and interestingly of such 

 subjects of inquiry than that admirable work of Cap- 

 tain Maury of the United States Navy, entitled 

 " The Physical Geography of the Sea." Much of the 

 substance of what we have written has been culled 

 from the pages of that fascinating volume. But we 

 have merely plucked one or two leaves, as it were, 

 and presented them to our readers in the hope 

 that they may be tempted by their fragrance to 

 pluck the flower. The mysteries of the atmospheric 

 and aqueous oceans are here treated of fully, yet so 

 agreeably, that one is frequently apt to fancy one is 

 perusing the pages of romance. 



