The Ocean.

narrow channels , turn upon a centre and assume a spiral form , giving rise to eddies or whirlpools , such as the Maelstrom oil ' the coast of Norway , aud others of a like nature . Towards the close of the 15 th century , before Europeans were acquainted Avith the

existence of America , two bodies belonging to an unknoAvn race Avere cast by the Gulf Stream on the coast of the Azores , and pieces of bamboo Avere brought by the same current to the shore of tho small island of Porto Santo . By these

circumstances , Columbus is said to have been strengthened in his conjectures Avith respect to the existence of a Avestern continent . The surface of the sea is estimated at 150 millions of square milesthe Avhole

, surface of tho globe at 197 millions , and its greatest deptli is supposed to be equal to that of the highest mountains , or about four miles . Seas and lakes in warm latitudes contain

more salt than those in cold latitudes . It is assumed that excessive evaporation tends to make tho proportion of contained salt more considerable , since it is only the ivafcer that is carried off by the process of conversion into vapour . The degree of saltness in particular parts

of the sea varies from temporary causes . The violent tropical rains have an effect in diminishing it , especially near the coasts , Avhere an increased A'olume of fresh Avater is brought doAvn by the rivers . Tho Baltic is at all times less salt than tho oceanancl

, when a strong oast ivind keeps out the North Sea , its ivaters are said to become almost fit for domestic uses . The bitterness which exists in sea-water , from the surface to a certain depth , is considered to bo owing to tho vegetable and

animal matter held there in a state of decomposition , The luminosity of the ocean , lvliich at times gives it the appearance of liquid fire , arises entirely from the presence of small

insects . The temperature of the sea . owing to Water being a bad conductor of heat , changes much less suddenly than that of the atmosphere , ancl is therefore not subject to such extremes . In fact the temperature of the sea never , under any latitude exceeds 85 or 86 decrees Fahrenheit . The

The Ocean.

freezing point of salt water is 28 ^ - degrees , fresh water , 32 degrees . Tho Dead Sea is exceedingly cold , ancl is said to contain no living creature . The aspect of the mountains , the terrible ravines , the romautic forms of the jagged

rocks , all prove that the surrounding country has been tho scene of some terrible convulsion of nature , and that the sea , Avhich occupies the sites of Sodom and Gomorrah , Adan , Scboim , and Segor covers the crater of a volcano . This lake has no visible outlet , notwithstanding the River Jordan pours into it six millions ancl ninety thousand tons of water daily .

The sea generally is of a bluish-green colour . The Arctic Sea is ultramarine and transparent blue to-olive-green or opaque , in stripes caused by animalculaj and medusas in countless myriads . In the Gulf of Guinea the Avater is Avhite , and round

the Maldives , black . In other places it is red and purple . Objects may be seen in the Arctic and AA est Indian Seas at a depth of 150 feet .. The most curious phenomenon of all is that of springs of fresh Avater rising up in

the midst of the sea . Humbolt mentions that in the Buy of Xagita , on the southern coast of Cuba , springs of this kind gusli up with great force at the distance of two or three miles from the land , and in the south of tho Persian Gulf there are many others of the same kind .

Freemasonry In France.

FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE .

BY BRO . J . II . GABALL . ( Continued from page 552 . ) IN 1814 , the members of the Grand Orient of France , invested with the 33 rd degree , asserted their right to constitute a

Supreme Council , seeing that Count Muraire himself acknowledged that the members of the old Council Avere dispersed . He claimed that their rights had been preserved by the Supreme Council of America , but he completely ignored the Constitutions of the Rite . It was not lawful to have in