CHAPTER I.. Heat and Moisture Are Indispensable to the Fertillity of the

Heat and moisture are indispensable to the fertillity of the earth--Arrangements exist for their diffusion and distribution, and all the phenomena of the weather result from their operation--Heat furnished or produced mainly by the direct action of the sun's rays--Manner in which it is diffused over the earth--Other causes operate besides the sun's rays--The earth intensely heated in its interior--Heat derived from the great Oceanic currents, and the aerial currents which flow from the tropics to the poles, and from magnetism and electricity--Water distributed by an atmospheric machinery as extensive as the globe--Evidences of this--Its distribution over the continents of North America--Explanation of it--Source from whence our supply of water is derived, and from which our rivers return 1