334 



ON THE BED OF THE 



as before noticed, enters either simply or chemi- 

 cally into the constitution of all bodies, and ap- 

 pears to be held, almost exclusively, in solution, in 

 the formation and maintenance of the whole ani- 

 mal and vegetable kingdoms, and is found to exist 

 largely in the composition of all mineral substances. 

 The quantity of water, consequently, that is re- 

 quired, and is continually supplied from the ocean 

 by the process of evaporation, both for the support 

 and reanimation of nature, must be immense, and 

 may of course be supposed permanently to absorb 

 a very large proportion of the surplus waters of 

 these circumscribed seas, while the remaining por- 

 tion of surplus water, if not thus wholly account- 

 ed for, may be distributed over the general expanse 

 of the ocean. 



But if we suppose with some, that in nature 

 there is neither an excess nor diminution of the 

 waters of the globe, and that the united and coun- 

 terbalancing processes of evaporation, condensation, 

 decomposition, and regeneration, so completely e- 

 qualize each other, that the surplus waters, arising 

 from the displacement of a portion of the solid sur- 

 face of the globe, must again be wholly distributed 

 and intermixed with the waters of the ocean, the 

 portion of water remaining thus to be accounted 

 for becomes more considerable, and, upon the great 

 scale, must be permanently disposed of, indepen- 

 dently of the process of evaporation. 



