The Hlarmony of Creation. 645 
be nothing but icy deserts without this stream ; and on the 
other hand the tropical west coast of South America owes 
its temperate climate to the cold Peruvian stream which 
constantly conveys refreshing coolness from the Antarctic 
seas. Such a vast system of currents, with all its minor 
currents and eddies commingling in every conceivable 
direction, all contribute to the dissemination of marine life 
and the freshening of every river, sea, and ocean. Count- 
less spores of algz, seeds of plants, innumerable eggs and 
larve are transported by these oceanic streams from land 
to land. Even land animals are borne on floating timber 
across the waters. 
Enormous masses of aqueous vapours absorbed by the 
air from the wide-spread ocean, float thousands of miles 
and irrigate those lands, distantly removed from the fer- 
tilising influence of contiguous waters. 
Thus a marvellous harmony exists in the agencies which 
operate upon both azr and water. Every one is acquainted 
with the importance of dew, and how in hot countries it 
supplies the place of rain. That air, by being heated by a 
tropical sun, becomes a powerful absorbent of watery 
vapour, and that during the chilly nights the air is unable 
to retain so great a mass of vapourised water, and deposits 
it inthe form of dew drops upon plants, leaves, and all 
vegetation. 
In the case of ice an exception to the law, that solids are 
heavier than fluids, takes place, and solid water floats upon 
the liquid stream or ocean. But for this protection no 
flowers would ever bloom in Spitzbergen or Novaja Zemlya, 
no trace of verdure would enliven the desolate shore of 
Melville Island, or fringe the estuaries of the Mackenzie. 
Without this wise provision all fish would perish in those 
ice-bound regions, the seas and rivers would become one 
solid mass. The thawing of such prodigous mountains of 
ice would convert our summer into a winter, by the 
agencies of oceanic and atmospheric floods, derived from 
the melting of such stupendous masses of ice. On the land 
the snow acts a part similar to the ice on water, it covers 
the ground with a non-conducting mantle, which preserves 
the warmth of countless animals and plants beneath it. A 
drop of rain is equally heavy as a drop of water, why is not a 
flake of snow of an equal weight with a similar piece of ice? 
because the covering would crush the tender plant beneath, 
_and not allow the atmosphere to reach the hidden animal. 
The distribution of sea and land over the surface of the 
