SALT MARSHES -PAST AND FUTURE 



the coming of plant and animal life, including 

 that of man himself; the cutting down of the 

 streams, the slow gain of the sea on the land 

 as the latter sank, and its extension in the 

 form of estuaries into the river valleys; the 

 piling up of the barrier sand reefs and later 

 of the dunes, and the extension and building 

 up of the salt marshes, keeping pace with 

 this depression, and their gradual march 

 to the westward as the sea gained on the 

 land. 



Shaler said of the salt marshes: '' The re- 

 mote and picturesque coral reefs have long 

 proved fascinating subjects to the geological 

 student, while these near-at-home structures, 

 which are in their way almost as interesting 

 as the work of the polyps, have never been 

 adequately studied." 



Those who decry the study of science as 

 dry, and advocate the reading of fairy stories 

 and romances only for the cultivation of the 

 imagination, are evidently totally unaware of 

 the pleasures and possibilities of geology. 



The question is often asked whether these 

 marsh drumlins, now covered only with grass 

 sod, were ever forested, and we are fortunate 

 in possessing an early description of this 



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