Chapter II 

 SOCIAL LIFE IN THE SALT-WATER WORLD 



Who has ever visited the seashore during a storm 

 without a feeling of great awe as the thundering waves 

 broke against the rocks or hurled themselves with 

 their foaming crests high upon the beach? With each 

 succeeding surge of the mighty masses of water the 

 impact causes the very earth to tremble. If one is 

 of a reflective nature, those truly are tremendous 

 moments. It is then that one is impressed with the 

 significance of the warfare which is being waged by the 

 sea upon the land. 



Although one can well understand how the most 

 obdurate of coasts sooner or later must give way to the 

 incessant pounding, how is it that the continents of the 

 world have so long sustained themselves in the strife? 

 Does it not seem that ultimately dry land would com- 

 pletely disappear? 



Well, it is true that shore lines are breaking down. 

 Indeed, it is quite certain that considerable bodies of 

 land have dwindled away for this very reason. But it 

 is equally true that notwithstanding the frittering away 

 of its coasts a continent occasionally actually increases 

 in size. 



This apparent paradox Is easily explained. The 

 earth, as we all know, was once very hot; it is at 



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