Winds have been measured, and their velocity calculated. The following is Mr. John Smeaton’s table of the rate at which the wind travels:

There are some winds that are awfully destructive. In the Gulf of Persia, particularly at Ormus, during the months of June and July, a hot suffocating wind sometimes blows from the west, for a day or two together, which scorches up and destroys any animal exposed to it. On this account the people of Ormus then leave their habitations, and retire to the mountains. Winds similar to this in kind, but not in degree, are sometimes felt on the coast of Coromandel, where they are called terrenos; and likewise on the Malabar coast. On the coast of Africa, north of Cape Verd, during the months of December, January, and February, an easterly wind sometimes blows for a day or two, called by sailors harmattan, so intensely cold, as to be almost as destructive as the west winds at Ormus. The simoon is a hot wind which blows occasionally in the deserts of Arabia, parched by a vertical sun. If inhaled in any quantity, it produces instant suffocation, or at least leaves the unhappy sufferer oppressed with an asthma and lowness of spirits. Its approach is perceived by a redness in the air, well understood by those who are accustomed to journey through the desert; and the only refuge which they have from it, is to fall down with their faces close to the ground, and to continue as long as possible without respiration.71 Sirocco is a periodical wind which generally blows in Italy and Dalmatia every year about Easter. It blows from the south-east by south; it is attended with heat, but not rain; its ordinary period is twenty days, and it usually ceases at sunset. When the sirocco does not blow in this manner, the summer is almost free from easterly winds, whirlwinds, and storms. This wind is prejudicial to plants, drying and burning up the buds; though it hurts not man any otherwise than by causing in him an extraordinary weakness and lassitude; inconveniences that are fully compensated by a plentiful fishing, and a good crop on the mountains. In the summer time, when the westerly wind ceases for a day, it is a sign that the sirroco will blow the day following, which usually begins with a sort of whirlwind. When St. Paul was sailing close to the shore at Crete, there arose in the north-east, a tempestuous wind, called by the sacred historian, euroclydon; by Pliny, the mariner’s plague; and in modern language, a levanter, which drove the ship from the coast: this not being a point wind, but rather a kind of hurricane, often shifting its quarter, tossed them backward and forward in the Adriatic.

On Saturday, November 27, 1703, a tremendous storm shook all Europe, which has been considered the most dreadful tempest that has ever taken place since the deluge. This storm commenced three days before it arrived at its height. A strong west wind set in about the middle of the month, the force of which was increased every day till the 27th. Great damage was sustained, and much alarm excited, both by sea and land. The late Rev. Dr. Stennett, in endeavoring to account for it, observes, that “having most probably taken its rise in America, it made its way across the western ocean, and collecting confederate matter in its passage over the seas, spent its fury on those parts of the world, whither this army of terrors was principally commissioned.” The violence of the wind produced a hoarse, dreadful noise, like one continued peal of thunder; whilst the excessive darkness of the night added to the horror of the scene. Some accounts say, that it lightened; but it is probable, that this apprehension arose from there being, at times, many meteors and vapors in the air; the hurry and agitation of nature being too great to admit of thunder and lightning, in their usual course.

Great loss of property was sustained; many painful accidents happened to those who escaped with their lives; and not a few had all their apprehensions realized, as they met death in some of its most dreadful forms. In the city of London and its vicinity, more than 800 dwelling-houses were laid in ruins, and above 2,000 stacks of chimnies were precipitated to the ground. As a further proof of its strength and fury, we are informed, that the lead which covered the roof of 100 churches, was rolled up, and hurled, in prodigious quantities, to great distances. But the dreadful devastation spread throughout the country. In one extensive plain, on the banks of the Severn, not less than 15,000 sheep, being unable to resist its violence, were driven into the river and drowned. Such was the quantity of trees torn up by their roots, that a person anxious to ascertain the number, had proceeded through but a part of the county of Kent, when, arriving at the prodigious amount of 250,000, he relinquished the undertaking. If such were the dreadful ravages of this storm by land, it will be anticipated they were still more disastrous on the water. Accordingly we are informed, that the best part of our navy being then at sea, if it had been at any other than a full flood and spring tide, the loss might have proved fatal to the nation. It was computed that not less than 300 ships were utterly destroyed by this tempest; among which were 15 of the royal navy, containing upwards of 2,000 seamen, who “sunk as lead in the mighty waters.” The whole loss of property was estimated at four millions of money—of lives, about eight thousand—and cattle without number.

Towards the evening of the 27th, it pleased Him, “who gathereth the wind in his fists,” gradually to suppress the storm, till there was a perfect calm. Men were encouraged to leave the retreats in which they had taken refuge, and view the “desolations which God had made in the earth.”72

Though the winds are produced by the operation of natural causes, and seem to move in natural courses, yet there is a first Cause, whose efficiency is necessary to their existence, motions, and continuance. We shall select the following remarkable instance as an illustration of the truth of this assertion.

The disciples of Christ were once in imminent danger from a storm at the sea of Tiberias, which is also called the Sea of Galilee, and the Lake of Gennesaret, and, according to Pliny, is sixteen miles long, and six broad. It is said, “Behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea,” σεισμὸς μέγας, a great concussion or shaking. The same expression is frequently used, both in the Scripture and in other writings, for an earthquake; but here it is applied to the sea. Luke calls this tempest “a storm of wind;” Mark, “a great storm of wind;” and both of them use the word λαιλαψ, which the philosopher says is a particular kind of wind, or rather a conflict of many winds. The most probable derivation, says Mr. Parkhurst, seems to be from λα or λιαν, very much, and λαπτω, to lick or lap up, as wolves do water in drinking; for a whirlwind violently licks up, as it were, the dust of all light bodies in its way. Hence λαιλαψ is a wind that is suddenly whirled and rolled about downwards and upwards. Aristotle explains the word by a violent whirlwind, moving from beneath upwards. Hesychius, a learned Grecian, defines it to be a storm or tempest of wind, with rain. It seems to have been a whirlwind and hurricane in which the disciples then were. Luke says, that this storm of wind came down; it descended with great force into the sea, and lifted up its waves, which beat into the ship, and pressed it much, so that it was in great danger of being swallowed up and sunk by them. All the views given us of this tempest show the disciples to have been in imminent danger. It is said, “that the ship was covered with the waves,” which “beat into it, so that it was now full of water,” as Mark expresses it. Nay, Luke says, “they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy,” or in great danger. The ship was immersed, or just sinking into the deep. So that the disciples were brought to the utmost extremity. The great distress they were in is expressed in these words, “We perish, ἀπολλύμεθα, we are lost.”73 This way of speaking is still in use among sea-faring men, and indeed among others. Nothing is more common than for men to say, Such a vessel, or such a ship’s crew, or such a person, was lost at sea, in such a place, and at such a time. It is also to be observed, they do not say, We are in danger of being lost, or we are ready to be lost, or we shall be lost, but, we are lost. Which shows what apprehension they had of their condition; they saw no probability of escaping by any naturally rational method; they looked on themselves as lost.

All the Evangelists agree in this, though they do not use the same word. Mark mentions the place where he was asleep, in the hinder part of the ship, or stern, where he, as Lord and Master, should be. But to the great concern of the disciples, he was there in a deep or sound sleep, as the word αφυπνωσε, which Luke uses, signifies, and is confirmed by the loud cry, and repeated call of the disciples to him, saying, “Master, Master, we perish!” This sleep, doubtless, was brought on him through his great fatigue in preaching all the preceding day, and from the great concourse of people resorting to him, to have the sick healed, and devils cast out. He seems to have signified that he was very weary, just before he entered into the ship, to a man who said to him, “Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest:” the answer he returned was, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head.” Intimating as though he wanted an opportunity to lie down, and take some rest: and accordingly, when he was come into the ship, placing himself at the stern, he lay down, and fell fast asleep.

Christ was their last resource, but he was asleep in the same ship. However, they resolved to apply to him, and in so doing were certainly right. They used this language, “Lord, save us;” which implies that they believed he was able to save them; and indeed the considerable miracles which had been so lately wrought in their presence, were sufficient to convince them of his ability to deliver them in their greatest extremity. Our Lord indeed blamed them for their incredulity and want of faith. The question he put to them, as related by Luke, is “Where is your faith?” You professed to have faith in me, and doubtless had a little while ago; where is it now? Mark expresses himself, “Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?” that is, none in exercise, none sufficient to suppress your alarming fears? Matthew says, “Why are ye fearful, Oh ye of little faith?” It would seem they had no faith in Christ when sleeping, though not destitute of it when awake; but for this he justly reprimanded them. For though, as the Son of Man, he was asleep, yet as the Son of God, by nature, he neither sleeps nor slumbers. He was equally able to save them when sleeping as well as when waking.

It is not only certain that he was able to save them, but it is matter of fact that he in reality did so. Being awaked by his disciples, he rises up, and, with a majestic voice, and in an authoritative manner, showing, as it were, some kind of resentment at the wind and sea, as if they had exceeded their commission, and the one had blown and the other raged too much, and too long, rebukes them, saying, “Peace, be still:” Σιώπα, πεφίμωσο, be silent, hold thy peace, stop thy mouth, put a bridle on it, (as the last Greek word signifies;) go on no longer to threaten with shipwreck, and loss of lives. On this the wind ceased, and the sea became calm and smooth. The ship now moved quietly on, and they all arrived safe at the land of the Gadarenes, which is opposite to Galilee.

This had a very considerable effect both on the mariners and disciples, who rightly concluded from hence that their deliverer was more than a man. There was such a display of majesty, such a lustre of Divine power appeared in this behest, as filled them with astonishment and fear. They marvelled greatly, and feared exceedingly. Matthew seems to relate this, as though the mariners were the only persons who were affected with their deliverance: the men said one to another, “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” But Mark and Luke represent it as a question of the disciples to one another, “What manner of man is this?” of what qualities, powers, and perfections? He must be more than a mere man, he can be no other than the mighty God, “whom the winds and the sea obey.” It is to be observed, that the word man, inserted in our translation, is not in the question, as expressed by any of the Evangelists, in the original, but “Who is this?” The disciples were sufficiently convinced by this miracle, which so nearly concerned themselves, that their Master must be God over all, blessed forever.

This amazing instance of the power of Christ, shows clearly his Deity. Since he has such authority over the wind and seas, it must unavoidably follow that he is truly and properly God. It is said, “he rebuked the wind and the sea,” a phrase that is used only of the Most High God, who stands distinguished from all other beings by this, that “he stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people.” The Messiah makes use of this as an argument to prove, that he is able to redeem, because he can rebuke the sea, dry it up, and cover the heavens with clouds. “Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea: I make the rivers a wilderness. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.” That it is the Messiah who here speaks, the following words abundantly declare: “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning; he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.” Now on our Lord rebuking the wind and the sea, the one ceased, and the other became calm; this was done by speaking a word only, in an authoritative manner. Moses divided the waters of the Red Sea with a rod; Joshua, the waters of Jordan with the ark of the covenant; Elisha, with the Prophet’s mantle: but here Christ calmed the raging billows with a word. When he rebuked the wind and the sea, not only the former instantly ceased to rage, but the sea immediately became calm, which was very unusual and extraordinary; for after the wind has ceased, and the storm is over, the waters of the sea commonly continue raging, and in a violent motion for a considerable time. Must not that man be an infidel, who can read this account, and deny the Deity of Jesus Christ? Or, must he not be forced to one or other of these two conclusions, either to deny the truth of the fact, or to believe that Jesus Christ is truly and properly God?

[Addenda on Atmosphere.

1. By more recent and accurate experiments it is established, that the relative proportions of oxygen and hydrogen in air, are not precisely as given by Mr. Wood; but are 21 of oxygen, and 79 of hydrogen in 100 parts.

2. Experiments on the compressibility of the atmosphere have been carried to a much greater extent than stated in the text, and since our author wrote. It was generally believed that air might be made to assume a liquid form by pressure; and it has been recently accomplished by Mr. Perkins, as he states, by a pressure of 2,000 atmospheres.

3. Our author very justly states, that the gaseous state of the atmosphere is owing to the quantity of caloric in combination, the entire abstraction of which would render our atmosphere a body as solid as the diamond. This caloric is not imparted to it by the beams of the sun passing through it; because, radiant matter does not warm gaseous bodies by passing through them. This caloric is chiefly supplied from the earth, by the lowest stratum of air coming in contact with it, and when heated ascends, and thus gives place to a colder stratum. Hence the air is much warmer at the surface of the earth, than in its higher regions.

4. Our author inclines to the opinion that the atmosphere is the product of a chemical combination of the gases, yet great names, and weighty arguments are in favor of the opposite theory of a mere mixture of gases.

5. There is one point not presented in the preceding section. It is well known that oxygen is abstracted from the air by combustion, and the breathing of animals. This abstraction is very large. From whence then comes the supply of oxygen sufficient to keep up the constitutional quantity of this gas in the atmosphere? The only answer I have met with to this difficult question is this: The growing of vegetables is supposed to supply it, as it is well known that they absorb carbonic acid during the day, and evolve oxygen. But it is also well known that this process is reversed during the night. Hence it would appear that this is not a sufficient cause. Still it would seem there must be a sufficient supply from some source, as chemists have not been able to detect any change in the constitution of the air.

May not the oxygen be restored back again by evolution from those bodies which have absorbed it, upon their decomposition? Thus there would be a successive absorption and evolution as the process of nature went on; which would tend to keep up an equal distribution of oxygen.]

CHAPTER IV.
THIRD DAY.

Section I.—The Sea.

Water and land separated — Formation of the sea — Its restrictions — Extent — Depth — Composition — Saltness — Motion — Tides — Four states of water — Circulation — Religious improvement.

On the third day, the earth was drained, and the waters, which before covered its surface, were gathered into copious receptacles, and called seas. God said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas.” The almighty Creator proceeds to separate, put in order, and control the element nearest to light and air in quality and use, and, although not elastic, yet of great power. Probably the air was used by him as the great agent in gathering the waters into one place. Thus, instead of the confusion, which existed when the earth and the water were mixed in one great mass, there is now order; and by their separation each is rendered useful: the earth affording a habitation and support for man and the various orders of land animals; and the water forming an abode for the numerous tribes of living creatures adapted to subsist in that liquid element.74

Previous to this arrangement, the water, being a pure element, was above the earth. Thus the Psalmist, “Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains,” so that they did not appear. “At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.” At the omnipotent word they started back, and shrunk away, says Bishop Patrick; like an affrighted slave at the thunder of his master’s threatenings, if his commands are not obeyed. They gathered themselves in those places where they now are, which by Moses are called seas; and there God shut them up, confining them that they might not return to cover the earth. God “brake up,” for the reception of the waters, his “decreed place,” that vast concave or hollow in the earth; “and set bars and doors,” banks and shores, the weak sand to control this element, which, however it roar and struggle, it cannot pass.

It is wonderful that the sea, which has a natural disposition, from its being a purer and lighter element, to be above the earth, should not overflow it; but the amazing power of Omnipotence retains it within its prescribed limits. For he has pronounced, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.” As if he had said, Though thy tides flow with mighty strength, though the swelling billows of thy pride (so the original) rise high in a storm, and dash against the shore with impetuous force and overwhelming rage, yet here shall they stop: though they roar and foam, as if irritated at the opposing strand, yet dare not to approach beyond those limits to thee assigned; but, obedient to thy Lord and Master, submissively retire. Here we see the power and dominion of the supreme Being in the kingdom of nature, whose sway the sea is subject to! Our preservation from its threatening destruction, by the continual restrictions it is under, is a perpetual expression of Divine goodness and mercy, and should induce all men to live always in the reverential fear of God. “Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass; and though the waters thereof toss themselves, yet they cannot pass over it.”

If we look upon the map of the world, we shall find that the ocean occupies a considerably greater surface of the globe than the land is found to do. Although the ocean, properly speaking, is but one extensive sheet of water, continued over every part of the globe without interruption; and although no part is divided from the rest, yet geographers have distinguished it by different names, as the Atlantic or Western Ocean; the Northern, Southern, Pacific, Indian, and German Oceans. In this vast receptacle, almost all the rivers of the earth ultimately terminate. And yet these vast and inexhaustable supplies do not seem to increase its stores; for it is neither apparently swelled by their tribute, nor diminished by their failure; it continues constantly the same. Indeed, the quantity of water of all the rivers and lakes in the world is nothing compared to that contained in this prodigious reservoir. And some natural philosophers have carried their ideas on this subject so far as to assert, in consequence of certain calculations, that, if the bed of the sea were empty, all the rivers of the world flowing into it with a continuance of their present stores, would take up at least 800 years to fill it again to its present height.75

To ascertain the depth of the sea has been found impracticable, both on account of the numerous experiments which it would be found necessary to make, and the want of proper instruments for that purpose. Beyond a certain depth the sea has hitherto been found unfathomable; and though several methods have been contrived to obviate this difficulty, none of them has completely answered the purpose. We know in general that the depth of the sea increases gradually as we leave the shore; but if this continued beyond a certain distance, the depth in the middle of the ocean would be prodigious. Indeed, the numerous islands every where scattered in the sea demonstrate the contrary, by showing us that the bottom of the water is unequal like the land, and that so far from uniformly sinking, it sometimes rises into lofty mountains. If the depth of the sea be in proportion to the elevation of the land, as has been generally supposed, its greatest depth will not exceed five or six miles; for there is no mountain six miles perpendicular above the level of the sea. The sea has never been actually sounded to a greater depth than a mile and 66 feet; every thing beyond that, therefore, rests entirely upon conjecture and analogical reasoning, which, in this case, are in no wise conclusive. Along the coasts, where the depth of the sea is generally well known, it has always been found proportioned to the height of the shore; when the coast is high and mountainous, the sea that washes it is deep; when, on the contrary, the coast is low, the water is shallow. Whether this analogy holds at a distance from the shore, experiments alone can determine.

Water is an uninflammable fluid, says Dr. O. Gregory, and, when pure, is transparent, colorless, and void of taste and smell. Mr. Cavendish made a discovery that it is formed by the union of hydrogen and oxygen. It may, therefore, be considered as oxide of hydrogen: oxygen and hydrogen appearing to unite, only in that certain proportion of which water is the result. In 1798, (observes Mr. Parkes) Mr. Sequin made a grand experiment for the composition of water. He expended no less than 25,582 cubic inches (or nearly two hogsheads) of inflammable air, and 12,457 of vital air. The first weighed 1,039 grains, and the second 6,210, amounting to 7,249 grains, and the water obtained amounted to 7,245 grains, or about three-fourths of a wine pint. The loss was only four grains. Another experiment was afterwards made by Le Fevre, in which nearly two pounds and a quarter of water was produced.

The sea water contains a quantity of salt, but not in the same proportions every where. In the torrid zone, where otherwise, from the excessive heat, it would be in danger of putrefaction, the water is found most salt; as we advance northward its briny quality diminishes, till at the poles it is nearly gone altogether. Under the line, Lucas found that the sea comprised a seventh part of solid contents, consisting chiefly of sea-salt. At Harwich, he found it yielded 1-25 of the same matter. At Carlscroon, in Sweden, it contains 1-30 part, and on the coast of Greenland a great deal less. This gradual diminution of saltness from the equator to the pole, is not, however, without particular exceptions. The Mediterranean sea contain 1-22 of the sea-salt, which is less than the German sea contains. The saltness of some seas, or of particular parts of the same seas, may be increased, as Mr. Boyle intimates, from rocks and other masses of salt, either at the bottom of the sea, or dispersed near their shores.

This phenomenon of the sea perplexed the philosophers before the time of Aristotle, and surpassed even the great genius of that philosopher. Father Kircher, after having consulted three and thirty authors upon the subject, could not help remarking, that the fluctuations of the ocean itself were scarcely more various than the opinions concerning the origin of its saline impregnation. Bernadine Gomesins, (observes Bishop Watson) about 200 years ago, published an ingenious treatise on salt: in this treatise, after reciting and refuting the opinions of Empedocles, Anaxagoras, and Aristotle, on the subject in question, he proposes his own; wherein he maintains, that the sea was originally created in the same state in which we at present find it, and impregnated, from the very first, with the salt which it contains. Indeed, we cannot account for the general saltness of the sea from second causes; hence we must suppose it has had this property from the creation. Naturalists assure us, that, though some few species of fishes thrive in fresh water, and some others live alternately in fresh and salt, yet by far the greatest number cannot exist out of the sea; which is a proof that the sea was at the creation impregnated with salt.

The saltness of the sea has been considered by some as a peculiar blessing from Providence, in order to keep so great an element pure and wholesome: but facts prove that this property is not capable of preserving it from putrefaction. Sir Robert Hawkins, one of our most enlightened navigators, gives an account of a calm, in which the sea continuing for some time without its usual motion, began to assume a very formidable appearance. “Were it not (says he) for the moving of the sea, by the force of winds, tides, and currents, it would corrupt all the world. The experiment of this I saw in the year 1590, lying with a fleet about the islands of Azores, almost six months; the greatest part of the which time we were becalmed. Upon which all the sea became so replenished with various sorts of gelies, and forms of serpents, adders, and snakes, as seemed wonderful; some green, some black, some yellow, some white, some of divers colors, and many of them had life; and some there were a yard and a half and two yards long; which had I not seen, I could hardly have believed. And hereof are witnesses all the companies of the ships which were then present; so that hardly a man could draw a bucket of water clear of some corruption. In which voyage, towards the end thereof, many of every ship fell sick, and began to die apace. But the speedy passage into our country was a remedy to the crazed, and a preservative for those that were not touched.”76 Mr. Boyle informs us, that he once kept a quantity of sea water, taken from the English channel, for some time barrelled up; and, in a few weeks, it began to acquire a fetid smell. He was also assured by one of his acquaintance, who had been becalmed for about fourteen days in the Indian ocean, that the water, for want of motion, began to stink; and, that had the calm continued much longer, the stench would probably have poisoned him. It is the motion, therefore, and not the saltness of the sea, that preserves it in its present state of salubrity.77

The sea has three kinds of motion: the first is that undulation which is occasioned by the wind. This motion is evidently confined to the surface; the bottom, even during the most violent storms, remains perfectly calm. Mr. Boyle has remarked, from the testimony of several divers, that the sea is affected by the winds to the depth only of six feet. It would follow from this, that the height of the waves above the surface does not exceed six feet; and that this holds, in the Mediterranean sea at least, we are informed by the Compte de Marsigli; though he also sometimes observed them, during a very violent tempest, rise two feet higher.

The second kind of motion is that continual tendency which the whole water in the sea has towards the west. It is greater near the equator than about the poles; and, indeed, cannot be said to take place at all in the northern hemisphere beyond the tropic. It begins on the west side of America, where it is moderate; hence that part of the ocean has been called Pacific. As the waters advance westward, their motion is accelerated; so that, after having traversed the globe, they strike with great violence on the eastern shore of America. Being stopped by that continent, they turn northward, and run with considerable impetuosity in the Gulf of Mexico; from thence they proceed along the coast of North America, till they come to the south side of the great bank of Newfoundland, when they turn off, and run down to the Western Isles. This current is called the Gulf stream. It was first accurately described by Dr. Franklin, who remarked also, that the water in it having been originally heated in the torrid zone, cools so gradually in its passage northward, that even the latitude might be found in any part of the stream by means of a thermometer. This motion of the sea westward has never been explained: it seems to have some connection with the trade-winds, and the diurnal revolution of the earth upon its axis.

The third, and most remarkable motion of the sea, is the tide; which is a regular swell of the ocean every 12 hours, accounted for from the principal of gravitation. The sagacious Kepler long ago conjectured, that the earth and moon, and every particle of them, mutually gravitate towards each other, and are the cause of the tides. If, says he, the earth ceased to attract its waters towards itself, all the water in the ocean would rise and flow into the moon: the sphere of the moon’s attraction extends to our earth, and draws up the water. This, at that time, was mere conjecture; for Sir Isaac Newton was the first who clearly pointed out the cause of this phenomenon. On the shores of the ocean, and in bays, creeks, and harbors, which communicate freely with it, the waters rise above their mean height twice a day, and as often sink below it, forming what is called a flood and an ebb, a high and low water. It has been stated, that in the middle of the sea the tide seldom rises higher than one or two feet; but, on the coast, it frequently reaches to the height of 45 feet, and, in some places, even to more. At Plymouth, it is sometimes 21 feet between the greatest and least depth of the water in the same day, and sometimes only 12 feet.

When the sun and moon act conjointly on the tides, which is at the change and full of the moon, they are stronger and run higher than at other times, and are called spring tides; but when the sun and moon are 90 degrees apart, their attractive powers, being in opposition to each other, occasion the tides to be weaker and lower than at other times, and these are called neap tides. The word neap is derived from the Saxon; it signifies low, decrescent, and is used only of the tide. These different heights of tide are observed to succeed each other in a regular series, diminishing from the greatest to the least, and then increasing from the least to the greatest, according to the age and situation of the moon.

Sir Isaac Newton calculated the attractive powers of the sun and moon on the tides, and found the attraction of the latter to be about three times greater than that of the former.

Water is found to exist in four states: namely, solid, or ice; liquid, or water; vapor, or steam; and in a state of composition in other bodies. The younger Lemery observes, that ice is only the re-establishment of the parts of water in their natural state; that the mere absence of fire is sufficient to account for this re-establishment; and that the fluidity of water is a real fusion, like metals exposed to the fire; differing only in this, that a greater quantity of fire is necessary to the one than the other.

Underneath the poles, water is always solid; there it is similar to the hardest rocks, and may be formed by the chisel of the statuary like a stone. The following circumstance, noticed by Bishop Watson, will show the solidity that water is capable of acquiring when divested of a large portion of caloric. It is related that at the whimsical marriage of Prince Gallitzen, in 1739, the Russians applied ice to the same purposes as stone. A house, consisting of two apartments, was built with large blocks of ice; and the icy cannon, which were fired in honor of the day, performed their office more than once without bursting.

During the severe winter of 1740, observes M. de Bomare, a palace of ice, 52 feet long, 16 wide, and 20 high, was built at Petersburgh, according to the most elegant rules of art. The river Neva afforded the ice, which was from two to three feet thick, blocks of which were cut and embellished with various ornaments. When built up, the different parts were colored by sprinkling them over with water of various tints. Six cannons, made of and mounted with ice, with wheels of the same matter, were placed before the palace; and a hempen bullet was driven by one of these cannons, in the presence of the whole court, through a board two inches thick, at the distance of sixty paces. Cowper remarks,——

In the most northern part of the Russian territory, the cold is sometimes sufficient to freeze mercury, or 72 degrees below the freezing point of water.78 It is so intense in some seasons, that the poor inhabitants cannot venture out of their miserable huts but at the hazard of their lives.

In Iceland and Germany the thermometer frequently falls to zero, which is 32 degrees below the freezing point. At Hudson’s Bay it has been known to sink even 50 degrees lower. When stones or metals, which have been exposed to such degrees of cold, are touched by the tongue, or the softer parts of the human body, they absorb the heat from those parts with such rapidity, that the flesh becomes instantly frozen and mortified, and the principle of life in them is extinguished. Some French academicians, who made a journey to the northern end of the Baltic, and wintered under the polar circle, found it necessary to use all possible precautions to secure themselves from the dreadful cold which prevailed. They prevented, as much as possible, the entrance of the external air into their apartments; and if at any time they had occasion to open a window or a door, the humidity of their breath, confined in the air of the house, was condensed and frozen into a shower of snow; their lungs, when they ventured to breathe the cold air, felt as if they were torn asunder; and they often heard the rending of the timber around them by the expansive power of the frost on the fluid in its pores. In this terrible cold the thermometer fell to 33 below zero.79 The most intense cold ever known in the neighborhood of London was on December 25th, 1796, when the thermometer indicated 2 below zero.

The ice at each pole of the earth forms an immense cupola, the arch of which extends some thousand miles over the continents; the thickness of which, beyond the 60th degree of latitude, is several hundred feet. Navigators have assigned to detached masses, which are met with floating at sea, an elevation of from 1,500 to 1,800 feet.80 There can be no doubt but that the thickness of these cupolas of ice is much greater nearer the poles; for astronomy sometimes presents in the heavens so vast an image of them, that the rotundity of the earth seems to be considerably affected thereby. Captain Cook could never approach nearer the south pole, where there is no land, than the 70th degree of latitude; that is, no nearer than 1,500 miles; and it was only under the favor of a bay, that he was permitted to advance even so far.81 All the results of observations made by navigators, concur in proving that the temperature of the sea decreases according to the depth; and that the deepest gulfs are continually covered with ice, even under the equator. From a late memoir by M. Perron, some say, there is reason to believe that these mountains of ice at the poles, which have hitherto impeded the progress of European navigators, have been detached from the depths of the sea to float at the surface.82

When water is converted into ice, it is lighter83 than when in a fluid state, which is a circumstance of great importance. Galileo was the first who observed this. Ice consequently floats upon water, its specific gravity being to that of water as eight to nine. This rarefaction seems to be owing to the air-bubbles produced in water by freezing; and which, being considerably larger in proportion to the water frozen, render the body so much specifically lighter: these air-bubbles, during their production, acquire a great expansive power, so as to burst the containing vessels though ever so strong.

[The specific weight of ice is known to be less than that of water. Our author assigns a reason not entirely satisfactory. We must admit that the freezing of the upper stratum of water, although it may include the air which was in the water frozen, yet, it does not expel the air from the subjacent volumes of water. Hence the air in the water below will balance the effects of the air included in the ice.

It is a singular fact, and is regarded as a deviation from the general rule, that water expands in volume in proportion as its temperature is reduced below 40° Fahrenheit. It also expands by raising its temperature above this degree.

The expansion of the volume then, and not the enclosed air bubbles, is the cause of water being specifically lighter when converted into ice. But it remains to account for its expansion by a reduction of temperature.

This is a difficult question. It seems most probable that this expansion is owing to a peculiar arrangement, of the particles of water, in the act of crystallization, i.e. freezing. M. Mairan found that the particles of water, in the act of freezing, arranged themselves constantly at an angle of 60°, and by this arrangement increased the bulk of the water thus crystallized.

It is obviously a mistake to attribute the “expansive power” of freezing to the force of the inclosed air-bubbles: because the reduction of temperature would reduce this supposed expansion of the inclosed air. The true cause of the expansion of ice is supposed above, in the arrangements of the particles of water in the process of crystallization.

The power which disposes these particles to arrange, increases with the reduction of temperature, until the disposing power becomes sufficiently great to force every impediment to the inclination to arrange. Hence the strongest vessels burst in the process of freezing.

The impediments may restrain the accomplishment of the arrangement of the particles for a time, but the disposing power will overcome them, if the reduction of temperature go on; and when they are overcome suddenly, the crystallization will take place instantly. Hence the sudden rending of vessels, trees, mountain rocks, &c., upon the sudden congelation of water.

Even when there is no cause to impede crystallization, it is well known that the preparation to crystallize, or freeze, may be observed in the liquid; the particles seeming to be preparing to arrange themselves; and then, at a given stage of the preparation, they take their places suddenly, and thus we have ice.

This consummation may be retarded, or hastened by artificial means. Water may be reduced to a lower temperature by being kept still, than when agitated. And if it be cooled down to the lowest possible temperature, without congealing, it may remain fluid at that temperature for a long time. But if the vessel be suddenly struck; or the surface of the water touched with a piece of ice; or a large piece of cold metal be brought in contact with the outside of the vessel; the water will instantly crystallize or freeze in beautiful crystals.

These facts establish the above theory. Because, 1. there is no increased reduction of temperature effected, by striking the vessel, touching the surface of the water with ice, or the outside of the vessel with cold metal. 2. There is every reason to conclude these things commence the motion in the water, which is at rest, balanced between an inclination to be at rest, and an inclination to move in arranging the particles; the motion communicated overcomes this balance in favor of the disposition to crystallize, and hence the water freezes instantly, with an expansion of volume.]

It is owing to the expansion of water in freezing, that rocks and trees are often split during intense frosts. According to the calculations of the Florentine academicians, a spherule of water, only one inch in diameter, expands in freezing with a force superior to the resistance of 13½ tons weight. Major Williams also attempted to prevent this expansion; but during the operation the iron plug which stopped the orifice of the bomb-shell containing the freezing water, and which was more than two pounds weight, was projected several hundred feet with great velocity; and in another experiment the shell burst. This property of water is taken advantage of in splitting slate. At Colly Western, the slate is dug from the quarries in large blocks: these are placed in an opposite direction to what they had in the quarry, and the rain is allowed to fall on them: it penetrates their fissures, and the sharp frost freezes the water, which, expanding with its usual force, splits the slate into thin layers.84

M. Mairan, in a dissertation on ice, attributes the increase of its bulk chiefly to a different arrangement of the parts of the water from which it is formed; the icy skin on the water being composed of filaments, which according to him, are found to be constantly and regularly joined at an angle of 60°; and which, by this angular disposition, occupy a greater volume than if they were parallel. He found the augmentation of the volume of water by freezing, in different trials, a 14th, an 18th, a 19th, and when the water was previously purged of air, only a 22d part: that ice, after its formation, continues to expand by cold; for, after water had been frozen to some thickness, the fluid part being let out by a hole in the bottom of the vessel, a continuance of the cold made the ice convex; and a piece of ice, which was at first only a 14th part specifically lighter than water, on being exposed some days to the frost, became a 12th part lighter. To this cause he attributes the bursting of ice on ponds.

Several philosophers have been very desirous to experience how far the expansive force of freezing water might be carried. “An iron gun of an inch thickness,” says M. Haüy, “filled with water and exactly closed, having been exposed by Buot to a strong frost, was found to be burst in two places at the end of twelve hours. The Florentine philosophers were able, by means of the same cause, to burst a sphere of very thick copper; and Musschenbroek, having calculated the effort which would occasion the rupture, found that it would be capable of raising a weight of 27,720 pounds.”

“Colonel E. Williams, of the Royal Artillery, when at Quebec, in the years 1794 and 1795,” says Dr. O. Gregory, “made many experiments. He filled all sizes of iron bomb-shells with water, then plugged the fusee-hole close up, and exposed them to the strong freezing air of the winter in that climate; sometimes driving in the iron plugs as hard as possible with a sledge-hammer: and yet, though they weighed near three pounds, they were always forced out by a sudden expansion of the water in the act of freezing, like a ball impelled by gunpowder, sometimes to the distance of between 400 and 500 feet: and when the plugs were screwed in, or furnished with hooks and barbs, by which to lay hold of the inside of the shell, so that they could not possibly be forced out; in that case the shell was always split in two, though its thickness of metal was about an inch and three quarters. It is further remarkable, that through the circular crack, round about the shells where they burst, there stood out a thin film or sheet of ice, like a fin; and in the cases where the plugs were projected by freezing water, there suddenly issued from the fusee-hole a bolt of ice of the same diameter, and stood over it sometimes to the height of eight inches and a half. Hence we need not be surprised that excessive frost should cause the ice to split rocks, and other solid substances.”85

It was necessary for the preservation of the world, that water should in this instance be subjected to a law different from that of other substances which change from fluid to solid. The wisdom and goodness of the great Artificer of the world will manifest itself in this arrangement, if we consider what would have been the consequences had water been subject to the general law, and like other fluids, become specifically heavier by the loss of its caloric. In winter, when the atmosphere became reduced to 32°, the water on the surface of our rivers would have sunk as it froze; another sheet of water would have frozen immediately, and sunk also; the ultimate consequence of which would have been, that the beds of our rivers would have become repositories of immense masses of ice, which no subsequent summer could unbind; and the world would shortly have been converted into a frozen chaos. How admirable the wisdom, how skilful the contrivance, that by subjecting water to a law contrary to what is observed by other fluids, as it freezes it becomes specifically lighter, and, swimming upon the surface, performs an important service by preserving a vast body of caloric in the subjacent fluid from the effects of the surrounding cold, ready to receive its own accustomed quantity on the first change of the atmosphere?86

Owing to the distance of this globe from the sun, and to the vast mountains of ice at the poles, the atmosphere over a large portion of the earth is at times reduced to so low a temperature, that, if it were not for a wise provision of nature, all vegetable life must be destroyed. Caloric has always a tendency to equilibrium; therefore, if the temperature of the air be lowered, the earth cools in proportion: but when the atmosphere is reduced to 32°, the water which it held in solution becomes frozen, and precipitates in the form of snow on the earth, covering it as with a carpet, and thereby preventing the escape of that caloric which is necessary for the preservation of those families of vegetables that depend on it for their support and maturity. Be the air ever so cold, the ground, thus covered, is seldom reduced below 32°, but is maintained equably at that temperature for the purpose above mentioned.87 Homer has described a shower of snow, and its extensive effects, in a fine strain of poetry.