APPLICATIONS OF THE MICROSCOPE. 135 



duce a calm (the Calms of Capricorn), when the 

 northern particle will descend, and pass on as a 

 surface wind from the north-west toward the 

 south pole, where it finds a " vortex" or calm 

 place, and finally ascends to the higher regions to 

 commence a corresponding course back towards 

 the north. 1 



Having stated his theory, Mr. Maury ob- 

 serves : " As our knowledge of nature and her 

 laws has increased, so has our understanding of 

 many passages in the Bible been improved. 

 The Psalmist called the earth ' the round world,'' 2 

 yet for ages it was the most damnable heresy 

 for Christian men to say the world is round ; 

 and finally, sailors circumnavigated the globe, 

 proved the Bible to be right, and saved Chris- 

 tian men of science from the stake." 3 



1 In a subsequent part of his volume, Mr. Maury supports 

 his general theory by arguments derived from evaporation 

 the rainy winds the dry winds the supply of moisture 

 afforded by the waters on the south of the equator, to the 

 land and rivers north of the equator. He regards 'magnetism 

 as the motive cause of his hypothetical particles. 



2 Ps. xcvi. 10, in English Church Psalter, ' the round 

 world ;' in the Vulgate, ' orbs terrce? See Tsa. xl. 22, ' the 

 circle of the earth.' 



3 Physical Geography of the Sea, p. 79. 



