not very numerous nevertheless the assumption that the average depth of the ocean far this amount there is no ocean in which there has not been found a depth of the ocean and its meaning in nature june several thousand feet thus we know that in the ocean whose bottom is very in latitude � n did not find ground at feet captain found as much as feet in s bay the atlantic opposite the coast of the united states has been sounded in several places by the officers of the united states coast survey who have found from to feet but the of the southern seas are above all remarkable for their great depth we know that captain at the west of the cape of hope sounded feet and the same did not reach the bottom with a line of feet west of st a depth which is almost equal to the height of the peak of the chain by these facts with other considerations connected with the form of the surrounding some recent have come to the conclusion that the average depth of the atlantic must be at least two miles and a half and that of the pacific at least three miles as to the of the bottom of the ocean it is stated by some that they are even much more considerable than those of the land according to captain the great or valleys run nearly at right angles to the great mountain chains of this continent there is at the a depression to nearly the th parallel of south latitude where a ridge occurs at the th parallel there is another depression to be found degrees further south we have another ridge and it a ain and then in depth twice towards the circle it remains to consider the ocean as one of the productive agents in the economy of nature important the ocean may appear when examined from the points of view already considered they do not constitute its only or even its chief claim to our attention to consider the phenomena of nature merely in their connections with one another to look only at their useful or agreeable side is to judge the works of god from a narrow point of view and to mistake their true every object in nature exists in itself and for itself before it forms a part of any whole in other words it bears in itself the reason of its existence it is true the oak in the forest with other trees to furnish food for beasts of the field and a shelter for the birds of the it ia true a shady bower and us with its the ocean and us meaning in nature and its shade but shall we from this that things have no other part to play in nature shall we rest contented here that we have learned all the meaning of tiie pole star because it renders such signal services to the struggling the storm or because it serves as a guide to the slave in his pilgrimage towards the land of freedom no more does the ocean exist solely to serve a useful purpose and for the sake of its connection with the rest of the universe before the first ventured on its waves it washed the as now and before animals dwelt in its bosom it covered with its waters the face of this youthful sphere then as now it had a independent of its form and of its relation with the rest of the material world it was the ocean majestic and powerful as at this day to comprehend it in all its grandeur m all the extent of its influence it is not enough to study it in its present form and its actual condition we must study die ocean in its history and in its development the doctrine that the ocean is the or point of departure of all things a doctrine announced in the old and laid down as a principle in the philosophical schools of the is now by the results of in short teaches us not only that the of the with the ocean have been different at but in going back through the ages we come to an epoch when according to all appearances the solid earth did not exist and when the sur ce of our globe was entirely covered with water this was the period of chaos � a term which does not by any means imply confusion but merely the absence of separation a general containing the principles of all the elements which were to be developed and in this sense an egg is a chaos � though it contains the elements of the young chicken hereafter to be developed the materials which form the greater part of the solid land were prepared in the bosom of the waters as we trace on a the successive which we know are of we commonly arrive at a point where what are now entire countries are represented by only a few islands little by little these islands become enlarged the spaces which separate them become filled up and vast tracts of firm land appear to day where once the ocean reigned as absolute master is not the place to inquire what part has been no vn ocean and iu meaning in nature june performed by the physical agents in the history of the formation of the to do this it would be necessary to enter the department of and to discuss anew the old questions so oft n agitated by the and which at the be of this century gave rise to the celebrated between the and the leaving out of sight for a moment the agents which have built up the wc assume as a fact that from the time when the solid earth first existed it must enter into opposition with the liquid element and occasion a series of actions 