1 



682 REMARKS ON THE DELUGE. 



the ocean descends, and made chiefly in temperate or cold 

 climates. 



Having no pretension to more knowledge than any obser- 

 vant seaman may acquire in the course of a few years active 

 employment afloat, it would be as vain as presumptuous in 

 me, were I to off^er any conjecture about the central mass of 

 the earth. Perhaps, at a future day, when the nature of 

 aerolites ; the agency of electricity ; and of electric communica- 

 tion through the superficial, if not through the interior 

 regions of the globe, are better known, other opinions, respect- 

 ing this wonderful world which we inhabit, may be formed by 

 philosophers. 



I have now fulfilled my intention of endeavouring to be 

 useful, in however small a degree, to young persons of my 

 own profession. If the few remarks laid before them, in 

 this and the preceding chapter, at all increase their interest in 

 the subjects spoken of ; and tend, even in the least, to warn 

 them against assenting hastily to new theories — while they 

 induce a closer examination into the Record of truth — my 

 object in writing them will be fully attained. 



