ADDRESS. V 



u) 



old writer, (I think it is Sir ThomaX. Browne,) that 

 f God loves fishes better than men" if we <M^»aiJta*#' 

 that this vast watery expanse not only contributes to 

 the fertility of the continents, but is absolutely neces- 

 sary to their capacity for great productiveness. So 

 great an evaporating surface is indispensable to furnish 

 the material for watering the whole face of the ground. 

 The boundaries of sea and land are fixed by the wisdom 

 of the Creator, and perpetuated by the natural laws 

 which he has established, so that we may not expect any 

 considerable change in the relative proportions of these 

 two essentially different components of the exterior of 

 the globe which we inhabit. We know that on certain 

 coasts, the sea has long been encroaching on the land, 

 and that on certain others, the land has been crowding 

 the water back : but these two opposite movements prob- 

 ably nearly balance each other, or, if they do not, they 

 are so slow and limited in their action, that they do noc 

 materially affect the productiveness of the earth. The 

 proportions of land and water over the whole globe are 

 probably not now different, by. any appreciable quantity, 

 from what they were when Noah died. Human 

 industry may do something, as in Holland, to scoop out 

 a country from the ocean, and it may accomplish still 

 more by draining lakes and marshes ; but after all, it 

 is not probable that any very considerable addition 

 will ever be made by man to the producing surface 

 out of which the growths that support human life must 

 come. How far human industry, ingenuity and science 

 may avail in reclaiming the naturally sterile regions 

 of- the earth, it may not be easy or safe to affirm. Utter 

 sterility, such as that of the great sandy plains of Asia 



