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from it, we still see this light ; it is diffused everywhere. 
Whence has the sky this light ? Undoubtedly from the sun. 
Yet it is not the direct rays emanating from the sun which we 
behold, for we see it equally when the sun is out of sight, and 
in directions altogether different from the path of its beams. 
In what manner, then, has the sky become possessed of 
this power of diffusing the sun's light ? It certainly does not 
come from the clouds, for the phenomenon is as noticeable on 
a cloudless day as at any time. It has its origin, moreover, 
above the clouds, since, if the clouds be thin enough, this 
luminous sky can invariably be seen through them. How 
comes it then ? The only power with which we are acquainted 
which can thus diffuse light is reflection. There must be a 
quantity of reflecting matter in the upper regions of the atmo- 
sphere. But, then, for matter to be able thus to reflect, it 
must be either liquid or solid. What matter, then, is there 
which can exist in these regions thus diffused in a liquid or 
solid state ? The only matter that we can conceive is water. 
We know that large quantities of water are constantly being 
carried into the air as vapour ; we know that it condenses as 
it rises, owing to the diminished pressure and consequent fall 
in temperature ; we know that it forms clouds, and into clouds 
the whole of this condensed water has generally been consi- 
dered to be gathered. It would seem, however, that this is 
not the case, but that some of the vapour rising above the 
cloud region becomes condensed there in a far looser form, and 
there acts as the great diffusing agent of the sun's light. It 
is an interesting confirmation of this explanation, that the 
light from the open sky referred to is invariably found to be 
more or less polarized, as it inevitably would be by reiterated 
reflection from the surfaces of minute globules of water. 
Thus in the most literal and extended sense is the state- 
ment of Genesis shown to be true, that there are waters 
above the expanse as well as below, both gathered into clouds 
and diffused over the whole atmosphere.* 
2nd. The order of creation . — Here several points present 
themselves for notice, which will require careful consideration. 
The order of creation is known to Science in two ways — (1) 
from observations of the necessary relation in which different 
* It was, of course, no part of the design of the cosmogony to teach this fact 
in meteorology. The natural fact known to all men, which this part of the 
narrative takes into account, was undoubtedly the existence of clouds. The case 
is one of those often-occurring ones, where a deeper meaning lies in inspired 
language than at first sight appears — a meaning not perhaps essential to 
the significance of the passage, yet whose discovery enhances its significance 
very wonderfully. 
