Weekly national intelligencer., 1851-10-11
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER:
TO THE EDITORS.
no DIMINUTIoN OF WATER.
av n. r. scHrrrxnIr. Of Howell, Michigan.


Br H. r. ScHErrEHLT. of Howell, Michigan.
GEsrLxxEx In discussing scientific questions people are
in the cons.sn. h.b. Of referring the Scriptures ought
h reference to bs deprecated when their authority is nvok
ed merely to furnish facts your correspondent Mr. Wat
tss,on, has done but when nursery notions applied
them as rules Of Misrepresentation very apt be led
avsv from truth Il is in this that the Bible and
Science have been kept with each other since the
dawn of the latter upon so-csed christian nsons the
time Of Galeo the present day. But far zeaots and
ir6des have failed alke-ihe former in arresng the march
of science and the latter in invadatng the testimony of
ve!ation and might have been expected the closer the
invesg alton, the they harmonze and confirm each
other and why not, seeing both from the
Great Architect II
Mr.. Watterston asks; What has become Of the waters
that covered the earth during the flood ," From the manner
which this question sssked may be inferred that he sup
poses whole planet then covered with water depth
fifteen cubits little than twenty English feet
II this is his conclusion respectfully beg leave to dissent
from it. there being the slightest evidence to authorize
such supposion, to prove that there was then more
water upon the earth than there before but
merely that great portion Of what water existed had been
concentrated upon the small part Of Asia which then in
habted The assigned for the food is rain Of forty
days continuance and the breaking up Of the fountains of
the great Deep But who has known rain to extend
over the whole surface Of the earth at the time "he
fountains Of the great deep probably mean the adjacent
ocean and if we admit that continued and violent wind
drove the clouds and condensed them from other parts Of the
earth and the waves Of the upon that devoted country
for forty days. concede all that the history claims And
this is certainly more rational aud consistent with Natures
laws than to suppose that quantity Of water
created for that express purpose and again annhated
otherwise disposed Of in mysterious after
hundred and fifty days. in derogaon Of those laws This
reasoning may be satisfactory those loving the mar
veous but such ought learn that God operates BY means
of those agents which he has created and that his laws
as immuahle himself Ixwas inclined to the belief
that the Aood produced by acceeraon Of the eah
rotary motion her axis throwing the waters Of the arctic
zones temporarily upon the tond, because geology shows
that large rocks have been torn from their foundations
and carried great distances from the to which they
belonged in southery direction but the closer stick TO
the text the likely we are to be right Philosophers
have spscuated great deal upon this subject but the fact
is little acquainted with the geography
of Southern Asia be in great measure disqualified to
arrive at correct conclusions and whether mountains there
then as high is uncertain though il is certain
that rise Of SO feet would not submerge them.
The Citizen of Washington" had favoe theory which
he wished to support, and looking out for the
with which sustain it, This burning up of planet is
vagary of mems imagination, nowhere predicted
by revelation. But this is theological question.
There be doubt that the destruction Of forests di
mnhes the constant and regular supply Of water dries up
and springs during part of the year, and may
decrease extent the average annual quantity Of
rain falling in particular localities and under particular
circumstances, Dr. Baou has stated This phenomenon
is witnessed an extensive scale in the Mississippi aey
nd bv
dense foliage, and innumeabe vuets and blocked
up with fallen timber and brush obsucing the free egress
and flowing off Of the water well Dapoolic in India
When the country cleared up and these Instructions
moved and these lakes marshes and streams exposed the
direct rays of the sun evaporation becomes Of very
much inygorated, and carries off immense quantities of
ter from large surface. And when II rains the water
off with much greater rapdiy than formerly, leaving
much low and wet land that had previously been considered
useless dry and fit for cultivation. Il it at all strange that
during the dry streams should dry up and springs
wells and fountains fail Forests, too, obsruct the winds
blowing away the vapo and facilitate their condensation
into rain and dew and hence and for other reasons
though there is moisture evapoted o4he surface Of
oceans, there is rain equal spa of dry land.
These facts will account for the droughts 10 the Cape dc
Verde Islands, and the disappearance Of springs &C. in
Greece and other countries where under ardent and
comparatively cloudes sky, evaporation increased by the
destruction of trees to yet much greater extent But all
these facts BY prove that there is the slightest d.
minuon Of the quantity of water belonging to our planet
that there average decrease in the same coun-
try which only he proved BY the accurate measure
msn that art furnish they only show that is eva
poraed in given ime and that what does fall in the forms
of rain, hail. snow, and dew, more quickly away
The assertion Of the Secretary of the Bombay Geogaphi-
cal Society that trees radate out heat during the night
and gve vapor during the day. should be received in
limited and qualified sense. Living vegetables are endow-
ed with the faculty Of resisting heat and Of absorbing mois-
ture to very great exen whereas the earh minerals and
dead vegetables mbbe heat very readily and have but
paratvey little power absorb moisture from the air But
the greater the facility with which substance receives heat.
the greater also is the facility with which conducts and ra-
dates Hence stones earh and dead vegetable matter re-
ceVe great deal Of heat during the day. and radate again
during the nights while living vegetables receive much less
and consequently give ou less Le the douber set bis bare
foot ON stone, on timber, dry hay and then on
bed Of growing grass all equally exposed the hot rays
OF summer day SUM- and he will feel the dfsrence Dur
ing the day also the water eapoaed exists as invisible vapor
around except when it asceds to cooler region of the
atmosphere, and partially condensed forming clouds In
the evening" when the cir is heavily loaded with moisture
living vegetables, being cooler than surrounding Objects con-
dense the invisible ambient moisture in the air and drink
delicious draugh Of dew resevns the surplus in peay
drops the surface Of their leaves while those other OBJ
e having been much heated during the day. receive