German Ocean, or North Sea. S5 
therefore, as the great pabulum of nature, which, as before no- 
ticed, enters either simply or chemically into the constitution of 
all bodies, and appears to be held, almost exclusively, in solu- 
tion, in the formation and maintenance of the whole animal and 
vegetable kingdoms, and is found to exist largely in the compo- 
sition of all mineral substances. The quantity of water, con- 
sequently, that is required, and is continually su pplied 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 
portion of surplus water, if not thus wholly accounted 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 counterbalancing processes of evaporation, con- 
densation, decomposition, and regeneration, so completely equa- 
lize each other, that the surplus waters, arising from the dis- 
placement of a portion of the solid surface 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, independently of the process of eva- 
poration. 
Another view has been suggested as applicable to the 
distribution of the surplus waters produced by the gradual 
filling up of the bed of the ocean. These waters, in place 
of being elevated in any sensible degree, may be naturally 
disposed to find their level in the great Polar Basins, or ob- 
late portions of the surface of the globe which are known to ex- 
ist next the poles. The oblate figure of the earth at the poles 
makes these imaginary points the nearest to the centre of the 
earth, and consequently, with regard to level, they are also the 
lowest. It therefore appears to follow, that any filling up of 
the bed of the sea near the equator, or at a distance from the 
poles, will have the eifect of promoting the retiring of the sur- 
plus waters to the polar regions by their own gravity, while 
the centrifugal force occasioned by the eartlfs diurnal motion, 
will prevent their being farther removed from the earth’s centre, 
