THE OCEAN WORLD. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE OCEAN. 



"Apiffrov fj.lv i/Swp "The best of all things is water." PINDAR. 



IT is estimated that the sea covers nearly two-thirds of the surface of 

 the earth. The calculation, as given by astronomers, is as follows : 

 The surface of the earth is 31,625,625 T V square miles, that portion 

 occupied by the waters being about 23,814,121 square miles, and 

 that consisting of continents, peninsulas, and islands, being 7,811,504 

 miles ; whence it follows that the surface covered with water is to 

 dry land as 3*8 is to 1*2. The waters thus cover a little more than 

 seven-tenths of the whole surface. " On the surface of the globe," 

 Michelet remarks, " water is the rule, dry land the exception." 



Nevertheless, the immensity and depth of the seas are aids rather 

 than obstacles to the intercourse and commerce of nations ; the mari- 

 time routes are now traversed by ships and steamers conveying cargoes 

 and passengers equal in extent to the land routes. One of the features 

 most characteristic of the ocean is its continuity ; for, with the excep- 

 tion of inland seas, such as the Caspian, the Dead Sea, and some 

 others, the ocean is one and indivisible. As the poet says, " it em- 

 braces the whole earth with an uninterrupted wave." 



Tlepl iratrav ff 



^SCHYLUS in Prometheus Vinctus. 



The mean depth of the sea is not very exactly ascertained, but 

 certain phenomena observed in the movement of tides are supposed to 

 be incapable of explanation without admitting a mean depth of three 



