TITEL LEE LN TE. SEA. 17 
at a depth below thirteen or fourteen fathoms, so that the vege- 
tables and animals by descending more or less, according to the 
cold or the motions which disturb them, can always reach a position 
suitable to their tastes. 
The inhabitants of the sea are characterised by a peculiar soft- 
ness. Certain marine plants possess not only a feeble but a very 
feeble consistency ; a great number of them are transformed by 
boiling in water into a kind of glue. The flesh of marine animals 
is more or less flabby, seemingly composed of transparent mu- 
cilage. The skeleton of the most perfect species is more or less 
flexible and more or less cartilaginous; it rarely bears any com- 
parison, as to weight and consistency, with the bones of terrestrial 
animals. Yet the shells and the corals are remarkable for their 
stony solidity. Thus amongst the marine animals there are found 
at the same time the softest and the hardest organisations. 
The localities in which the beings nourished in the ocean exist 
are fixed by definite laws. We never find upon the coasts the 
same species as we meet with out at sea; nor at the surface do we 
find those which are hidden in the depths beneath. A wonderful 
world! Every variety of shape, of form, and of colour; from the 
almost invisible vegetation upon which the small shell-fish feed to 
the immense sea-weeds more than fifty yards long; from the micro- 
scopic infusoria to the gigantic whale! We find in the ocean- 
world similarity and diversity, which constitute beauty ; grandeur 
and simplicity, which form the sublime; power and size, which 
command respect. 
We have described and figured many plants and many animals, 
but how many yet remain. For two thousand years researches 
have been pursued without interruption, but how much is there 
still left for science to discover, so as to gain that degree of per- 
fection to which these researches may be carried. 
When the tide retires from the shore, the waters leave upon the 
beach many of the numerous beings which they shelter. The 
naturalist, immediately after the waters have retired, can collect 
a host of vegetables and animals, all possessing peculiar characters, 
colours, and properties. The people who live near the shore find here 
their food, their commerce, and their occupation, and accordingly 
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