13 



To the sea naturalist will appear the vast differ- 

 ences that exist between the fund of knowledge we now 

 possess, and the theories and speculative teachings in ancient 

 records. The voice of the deep will have no uncertain 

 sound to him. Indeed this may be said not only of the 

 philosophers who taught in ages remote from our time, but 

 of those modern teachers up to the time of Darwin, and 

 others of nature's explorers. 



Darwin was one of the first to investigate systematically 

 the causes and drift of currents at sea, the formation of the 

 sea-bed, the nature of ocean life, with the physical conditions 

 observable from coast to sea depths. After his demon- 

 strations of the importance of these sounding operations a 

 series of expeditions for the mapping out of the ocean floor 

 were undertaken — and scientific research enterprises are 

 now at work in every sea. The feverish eagerness that 

 characterised the Elizabethan and earlier navigation projects 

 had only one end and aim. They were undertaken almost 

 solely with the view of discovering new territory, the acquir- 

 ing of fresh dominions, and what is now described as 

 " protecting " the new country on which the flag of the 

 dominant state had been planted from a supposed or 

 imaginary enemy who might swoop down on the devoted 

 island. 



In speaking of the ancient theories of the sea and 

 nature's designs, we recall the conclusions of the school of 

 Aristotle, that there would come a time within a calculable 

 distance, when the waters of the sea would become absorbed, 

 that by continuous evaporation, dry land would appear in the 

 deeps where ocean waters flowed. 



Nature's compensating balance was not thought of, nor 

 could it be known to his mental vision that the vaporised 

 sea-borne wave is condensed and falls again on the land, 

 that the clouds of vapours rising from the sea distils 

 over the continents, filling up the pools, rushing down from 

 mountain slopes, through plains and fertile valley, and, enlarg- 

 ing and deepening the rivers to rejoin the sea whence they 

 came, carrying in a constant succession a flow seaward, ol 

 land deposits, of saline ingredients and other substances. 



