102 BOOK. OF MATURE LAID OPEK, 



naces and barks could now with difficulty swim; as 

 nothing is more'certain from the absolute necessity 

 that a proper equilibrium in the disposition .of the 

 waters of the ocean be kept up, that if the sea is 

 suffered to gain upon the land in one direction, it 

 must recede from it in another, and vice versa. 



Indeed, so far from there being the smallest dan- 

 ger that the world of waters may escape from its 

 present situation, and return again to cover the earth, 

 it might rather be expected, from its known pro- 

 perties and penetrating quality, that it would find 

 its way downward, so as to leave its banks dry by 

 receding from our shores, or, by mixing with the in- 

 ternal composition of the globe, saturate its stores 

 with the exuberance of its moisture. Whether the 

 former of these is chiefly prevented by that other 

 law impressed upon fluids, by which they have a 

 natural tendency to regain their level, and thejatter, 

 by that stiff, tenacious coat of clay, which covers 

 such a considerable portion of the bottom of this uni- 

 versal canal, we will not take upon us to say : one 

 thing is certain, that, as no increase is observed on 

 the waters of the ocean, notwithstanding, as the wise 

 man observes, all the rivers flow into it; so neither 

 is there any sensible diminution of that extent of sur- 

 face so essentially necessary in the business of evapo- 

 ration, which is continually going on from this great 

 natural reservoir. The water, of which the clouds 

 are formed, and which descends in rain or snow, is 

 evaporated from the sea; and it has been found, by 

 calculation, that, in a summer day, there may be 



