82 



THE UNIVERSE. 



Sweden, Greece, Sicily, Africa, and Arabia, many chalk hills 

 have a similar origin. 



The imagination is awed when it tries to realize the 

 power of organic life which produced such masses by the 



31. Shells of Molluscs. Foraminifera greatly enlarged. 1 



simple agglomeration of creatures almost invisible. In fact, 

 their minuteness is such that Schleiden maintains that a 

 single visiting card, when it is covered with a white layer 

 of chalk, represents a zoological cabinet containing nearly 

 100,000 shells of animals. 



In a hill in the environs of Dover, after long preliminary 

 workings, a mine containing about 181 cwt. of powder was 

 sprung in the year 1843. When it was ignited by means 



1 The sand of every sea-shore is so full of Foraminifera that it may be said to 

 be one half composed of them. In a single ounce of sea-sand from the Antilles, 

 4,000,000 individuals may be counted. Chenu. 



