in various Substances. 467 



and equalizer of Heat ; and its benign influences in pre- 

 serving a proper temperature in the atmosphere operate 

 in all seasons and in all climates. 



The parching winds from the land under the torrid 

 zone are cooled by a contact with its waters, and, in re- 

 turn, the breezes from the sea, which at certain hours of 

 the day come in to the shores in almost all hot countries, 

 bring with them refreshment, and, as it were, new life 

 and vigor both to the animal and vegetable creation, 

 fainting and melting under the excessive Heats of a 

 burning sun. What a vast tract of country, now the 

 most fertile upon the face of the globe, would be abso- 

 lutely barren and uninhabitable on account of the exces- 

 sive Heat, were it not for these refreshing sea-breezes ! 

 And is it not more than probable, that the extremes of 

 heat and of cold in the different seasons in the temper- 

 ate and frigid zones would be quite intolerable, were it not 

 for the influence of the ocean in preserving an equability 

 of temperature ? 



And to these purposes the ocean is wonderfully well 

 adapted, not only on account of the great power of water 

 to absorb Heat, and the vast depth and extent of the 

 different seas (which are such that one summer or one 

 winter could hardly be supposed to have any sensible 

 effect in heating or cooling this enormous mass) ; but also, 

 on account of the continual circulation which is carried 

 on in the ocean itself by means of the currents which 

 prevail in it. The waters under the torrid zone being 

 carried by these currents towards the polar regions, are 

 there cooled by a contact with the cold winds, and, hav- 

 ing thus communicated their Heat to these inhospitable 

 regions, return towards the equator, carrying with them 

 refreshment for those parching climates. 



