76 INTRODUCTION. 



other fishing-birds^ the otters, seals, aiul por])oises, would 

 soon perish also ; and lastly the Fuegian savage, the 

 miserable lord of this miserable land, would redouble his 

 cannibal feast, decrease in numbers, and j^erhaps cease to 

 exist." If such be the amount of animal hfe and enjoyment 

 on a single bed of Sea-weeds in the Antarctic Ocean, how 

 vast must be the amount of life and enjoyment to which 

 they are necessary in all seas, and how much must they 

 eventually add to the wealth, comfort, and happiness of 

 man? 



After all that has been said of the uses of Sea-weeds in 

 agriculture, in medicine, in culinary purposes, in the fine 

 arts, and in various manufactures, I would recommend the 

 study of this depaHment of natural science to my young 

 friends, chiefly on account of the intellectual pleasure it 

 will peld them, and because of its tendency to cherish 

 devotional sentiments in their hearts. 



" There is something positively agreeable," says Lord 

 Brougham, " in gaining knowledge for its own sake. There 

 is also a pleasure in seeing the uses to which knowledge 

 may be applied. — It is another gratification to extend our 

 inquiries, and find that the instrument or animal is useful 

 to man, even though we have no chance ourselves of ever 



