79 
Experiments upon Heat. 
The ocean may be considered as the great reservoir and 
equalizer of heat ; and its benign influences in preserving a 
proper temperature in the atmosphere operate in all seasons 
and in all climates. 
The parching winds from the land under the torrid zone 
are cooled by a contact with its waters, and, in return, the 
breezes from the sea, which, at certain hours of the day, come 
in to the shores in almost all hot countries, bring with them 
refreshment, and, as it were, new life and vigour both to the 
animal and vegetable creation, fainting and melting under the 
excessive heats of a burning sun. What a vast tract of country, 
now the most fertile upon the face of the globe, would be ab- 
solutely barren and uninhabitable on account of the excessive 
heat, were it not for these refreshing sea-breezes ? And is it 
not more than probable, that the extremes of heat and of cold 
in the different seasons in the temperate and frigid zones would 
be quite intolerable, were it not for the influence of the ocean 
in preserving an equability of temperature ? 
And to these purposes the ocean is wonderfully well adapted, 
not only on account of the great power of water to absorb 
heat, and the vast depth and extent of the different seas (which 
are such that one summer or one winter could hardly be sup- 
posed to have any sensible effect in heating or cooling this 
enormous mass) ; but also on account of the continual circu- 
lation which is carried on in the ocean itself, by means of the 
currents which prevail in it. The waters under the torrid zone 
being carried by these currents towards the polar regions, are 
there cooled by a contact with the cold winds, and, having 
thus communicated their heat to these inhospitable regions, 
