CHAPTER IV. 
THE WATERS. 
LAND ARTIFICIALLY WON FROM THE WATERS : «, EXCLUSION OF THE SEA BY 
DIKING ; b , DRAINING OF LAKES AND MARSHES ; C, GEOGRAPHICAL INFLU¬ 
ENCE OF SUCH OPERATIONS-LOWERING OF LAKES-MOUNTAIN LAKES—CLI¬ 
MATIC EFFECTS OF DRAINING LAKES AND MARSHES—GEOGRAPHICAL AND 
CLIMATIC EFFECTS OF AQUEDUCTS, RESERVOIRS, AND CANALS-SURFACE AND 
UNDERDRAINING, AND THEIR CLIMATIC AND GEOGRAPHICAL EFFECTS—IRRI¬ 
GATION AND ITS CLIMATIC AND GEOGRAPHICAL EFFECTS. 
INUNDATIONS AND TORRENTS : «, RIVER EMBANKMENTS ; 6, FLOODS OF 
THE ARDECHE ; C, CRUSHING FORCE OF TORRENTS ', d, INUNDATIONS OF 1856 
IN FRANCE ; e, REMEDIES AGAINST INUNDATIONS-CONSEQUENCES IF THE 
NILE HAD BEEN CONFINED BY LATERAL DIKES. 
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE VAL DI CHIANA—IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TUSCAN 
MAREMME—OBSTRUCTION OF RIVER MOUTHS—SUBTERRANEAN WATERS-AR¬ 
TESIAN WELLS—ARTIFICIAL SPRINGS—ECONOMIZING PRECIPITATION. 
Land artificially won from the Waters. 
Man, as we have seen, has done mnch to revolutionize the 
solid surface of the globe, and to change the distribution and 
proportions, if not the essential character, of the organisms 
which inhabit the land and even the waters. Besides the in¬ 
fluence thus exerted upon the life which peoples the sea, his 
action upon the land has involved a certain amount of indirect 
encroachment upon the territorial jurisdiction of the ocean. 
So far as he has increased the erosion of running waters by the 
destruction of the forest, he has promoted the deposit of solid 
matter in the sea, thus reducing its depth, advancing the coast 
line, and diminishing the area covered by the waters. He has 
gone beyond this, and invaded the realm of the ocean by con- 
