Page:Physical Geography of the Sea and its Meteorology.djvu/266

240 there had been a failure in the sublime system of terrestrial adaptations—that the sea had not been adapted by its Creator to the well-being of all its inhabitants. Now we do know that its adaptations are suited to all the wants of every one of its inhabitants—to the wants of the coral insect as well as to those of the whale. Thus our simple hypothesis acquires the majesty of truth, for we are now prepared boldly to assert we know that the sea has its system of circulation, because it transports materials for the coral insect and its rock from one part of the world to another; because its currents receive them from the rivers, and hand them over to the little mason for the structure of the most stupendous works of solid masonry that man has ever seen—the coral islands of the sea. Thus, and moreover, by a process of reasoning which is perfectly philosophical, we are irresistibly led to conjecture that there are regular and certain, if not appointed channels through which the water travels from one part of the ocean to another, and that those channels belong to an arrangement which may make, and which, for ought we know to the contrary, does make the system of oceanic circulation as complete, as perfect, and as harmonious as is that of the atmosphere or the blood. Every drop of water in the sea is as obedient to law and order as are the members of the heavenly host in the remotest regions of space; for when the morning stars sang together in the almighty anthem, we are told "the waves also lifted up their voice" in chorus; and doubtless, therefore, the harmony in the depths of the ocean is in tune with that which comes from the spheres above. "We cannot doubt it; for, were it not so, were there no channels of circulation from one ocean to another, and if, accordingly, the waters of the Atlantic were confined to the Atlantic, or if the waters of the arms and seas of the Atlantic were confined to those arms and seas, and had no channels of circulation by which they could pass out into the ocean, and traverse different latitudes and climates—if this were so, then the machinery of the ocean would be as incomplete as that of a watch without a balance-wheel.

466. Ditto by the Red Sea.—For instance, take the Red Sea and the Mediterranean by way of illustration. Upon the Red Sea there is no precipitation; it is a rainless region; not a river runs down to it, not a brook empties into it; therefore there is no process by which the salts and washings of the earth, which are taken up and held in solution by rain or river water, can be