46 



CHAPTER YIII. 



THE USES OF SEA-WEEDS. 



" How wondrous is the scene ! where all is formed 

 With number, weight, and measure ! all designed 

 Tor some great end ! Where not alone the plant 

 Of stately gro\vth, the herb of glorious hue, 

 Or foodful substance ; nor the labouring steed, 

 The herd and flock that feed us ; nor the mine 

 That yields us stores for elegance and use ; 

 The sea that loads our table, and convevs 

 The wanderer, man, from clime to clime, with all 

 Those rolling spheres, that from on high shed do^\^l 

 Their kindly influence ; nor these alone 

 Which strike e'en eyes incurious, but each moss, 

 Each shell, each crawling insect, holds a rank 

 Important in the scale of Hi3i who framed 

 This scale of beings ; holds a rank, which, lost, 

 Would break the chain, and leave a gap behind 

 WTiich Nature's self would rue ! " — Stillingjleet. 



No person^ now-a-clays, will venture to pronounce Sea-weeds 

 useless. Had we known no economical purposes to which 

 they coukl be apphed, still we should have been bound to 

 adore the goodness of God in clothing the rocks and 

 channel of the sea with so much beauty. Much of this 



