Page:The ocean and its wonders.djvu/80

CHAPTER V.

The Atmospheric Ocean—Order in its Flow—Offices of the Atmosphere—Dangers Lessened by Science—Currents of Atmosphere—Cause of Wind—Two Great Currents—Disturbing Influences—Calms—Variable Winds—Causes Thereof——Local Causes of Disturbance—Gulf Stream's Influence—The Winds Mapped Out—A Supposed Case.

ish are not the only creatures that live in an ocean. We, the human inhabitants of this Earth, dwell at the bottom of an ocean of air, which encircles the globe. Fish, however, have the advantage of us, inasmuch as they can float and dart about in their ocean, while we, like the crabs, can only crawl about at the bottom of ours.

This atmospheric ocean is so closely connected with the sea, and exercises upon it so constant, universal, and important an influence, that to omit, in a work of this kind, very special reference to the winds, would be almost as egregious an oversight as to ignore the waves.

Wind, or atmospheric air in motion, is the cause of storms, of waves, of water-transport through the sky, and of an incalculable amount of varied phe-