LIFE AT THE SURFACE OF THE SEA. 187 
these, the green things of the world, all other life depends. 
Directly or indirectly it is true, not only metaphorically but 
literally, that all flesh is grass.* The great wealth of its 
vegetable life, wealth not only of individuals but also of 
species, is one of the most striking characteristics of the 
life of the land surface of the globe. 
But to-night we are to consider the great and wide sea. 
We are to learn that the living garment of the earth is not 
confined to the land surface alone, but that the meshes of 
the web of life are not less intricately and closely woven in 
the waters that cover the deep. These meshes of the 
living network do not indeed, at many points, come into 
close relationship with human life. Nevertheless, at all 
times, the mysterious life of the sea has attracted human 
interest. To a very early writer the sea appeared as a 
place wherein were things creeping innumerable, and to-day 
we cannot forget the vast army of toilers to whom the deep 
yields day by day their daily bread. Perhaps the great 
richness of life of the once unharvested sea comes home to 
us most readily by consideration of the fishing industry ; but 
it does require some consideration to realise what is implied 
when it is said that in 1898 the fish landed at British 
fishery ports amounted to 154 million cwt., exclusive of 
shell-fish. The value of this quantity of food, added to the 
value of shell-fish, is stated to be 84 millions sterling, and 
this is only the first price at the port of landing. The 
number of men and boys employed constantly and occasion- 
ally in the same year amounted to 41,329 for England, 
38,484 for Scotland, and 25,818 for Ireland. In the 
Zuyderzee, it is said, 250,000,000 anchovies are captured 
annually. The city of Amsterdam is said to be founded on 
the heads of herrings. 
In Norway, in 1884, 6000 large boats were solely em- 
* Since writing the above I have found the following in Sir Thomas 
Browne’s Religio Medici:—‘‘ All flesh is grass, is not only metaphorically, 
but literally, true ; for all those creatures we behold are but the herbs of thie 
field, digested into flesh in them, or more remotely carnified in ourselves, 
Nay, further, we are what we all abhor, Anthropophagi and cannibals, 
devourers not only of men, but of ourselves; and that not in an allegory 
but a positive truth: for all this mass of flesh which we behold came in at 
our mouths ; this frame we look upon hath been upon our trenchers; in 
brief, we have devoured ourselves.” 
