1C8 HISTORY CF 



But however this be, the sultness of the seii au) by no means 

 be considered as a principiil cause in pr«st'rviiig its waters from 

 jiutrefaction. The ocean Vms its currents, like rivers which tir- 

 culate its contents round the globe ; and these may be said to be the 

 great agents that keep it sweet and wholesome. Its saltness alone 

 would by no means answer this purpose : and some have even 

 imagined that the various substances wiih which it is mixed, 

 rather tend to promote putrescence than impede it. Sir Robert 

 Hawkins, one of our most enlightened navigators, gives the fol- 

 lowing account of a calm in which the sea, continuing for some 

 time without motion, began to assume a very formidable appear, 

 ance. " Were it not," says he, " for the moving of the sea, by 

 the force of wi.'ids, tides, and currents, it would corrupt all the 

 woit.d. The experiment of this I snw in the year 15f)0, lybig 

 with a fleet about the islands of the Azores, almost six months ; 

 the greatest part of which time we were becabned. Upon which 

 -il] the sea became so replenished with several sorts of jellies, and of 

 serpents, adders, and snakes, as seemed wonderful . some green, 

 some black, some yellow, some white, some of divers colours ; 

 and many of them had life ; and some there were a yard and a 

 half, and two yards long: which had I not seen, I could hardly 

 have believed. And hereof are witnesses all the company of 

 the ships which were then present ; so that hardly a man could 

 draw a bucket of water dear of some corruption. In which 

 voyage tow.n-ds the end thereof, many of every shij) fell sick, and 

 began to dit; apace. But the speedy passage into our countiy 

 was a remt dy to the crazed, and a preservative for those that 

 were not touched." 



This shows abundantly how little the sea's saltness was ca- 

 pable of preserving it from putrefaction : but to put the li.atter 

 beyond all doubt, Mr Boyle kept a quantity of sca-water, takeji 

 up in the English Channel, for some time barrelled up ; and in 

 the space of a few weeks it began to acquire a fetid smell.' He 

 was also assured, by one of his acquaintance, who was becalmed lor 

 twelve or fourteen days in the Indian Sea, that the water for 

 want of motion, began to stink; and that had it continued 

 much longer, the stench would probably have poisoned him. It 

 is the motion, therefore, and not the saltness of the sea, that 



1 Boyle, vol. iii. p. 222.\ 



