210 
THE ELEMEXTS 
waves which confound the heaven and the sea, are doing 
the very thing which was done in the bottle. Nothing can 
be of greater importance to the living creation, than the 
salubrity of their atmosphere. It ought to reconcile us, 
therefore, to these agitations of the elements, of which we 
sometimes deplore the consequences, to know, that they 
tend powerfully to restore to the air that purity, which so 
many causes are constantly impairing. 
II. In water, what ought not a little to be admired, are 
those negative qualities which constitute its purity. Had 
it been vinous, or oleaginous, or acid; had the sea been 
tilled, or the rivers flowed, with wine or milk; fish, con 
stituted as they are, must have died; plants, constituted 
as they are, would have withered; the lives of animals 
which feed upon plants, must have perished. Its very in¬ 
sipidity, which is one of those negative qualities, renders 
it the best of all menstrua. Having no taste of its own, 
it becomes the sincere vehicle of every other. Had there 
been a taste in water, be it what it might, it would have 
infected everything we ate or drank, with an importunate 
repetition of the same flavor. 
Another thing in this element, not less to be admired, 
is the constant round which it travels; and by which, with 
out suffering either adulteration or waste, it is continually 
offering itself to the wants of the habitable globe. From 
the sea are exhaled those vapors which form the clouds; 
these clouds descend in showers, which, penetrating into 
the crevices of the hills, supply springs; which springs 
flow in little streams into the valleys; and there, uniting, 
become rivers; which rivers, in return, feed the ocean. So 
there is an incessant circulation of the same fluid; and not 
one drop probably more or less now than there was at the 
creation. A particle of water takes its departure from the 
surface of the sea, in order to fulfil certain important offi¬ 
ces to the earth; and, having executed the service which 
was assigned to it, returns to the bosom which it left. 
Some have thought, that we have too much water upon 
the globe, the sea occupying above three quarters of its 
whole surface. But the expanse of ocean, immense as it 
is, may be no more than sufficient to fertilize the earth. 
Or, independently of this reason, I know not why the sea 
may not have as good a right to its place as the land. It 
may proportionably support as many inhabitants; minister 
to as large an aggregate of enjoyment. The land only af¬ 
fords a habitable surface; the sea is habitable to a great 
depth. 
