142 DISTUEBAlSrCE OF jSTATUEAL BALANCES. 



brandies of this coral might be attached to the keel of a ship and 

 transplanted to the American coast, where the GuK stream would 

 furnish a suitable temperature beyond the chmatic limits that 

 otherwise confine its growth ; and thus a new source of profit 

 might perhaps be added to the scanty returns of the hardy fisher- 

 men. This experiment is certainly weU worth trying. 



In certain geological formations, the diatomacese deposit, at the 

 bottom of fresh-water ponds, beds of sihcious shields, valuable as 

 a material for a species of very light firebrick, in the manufac- 

 ture of water-glass and of hydrauhc cement, and ultimately, 

 doubtless, in many yet undiscovered industrial processes. An 

 attentive study of the conditions favorable to the propagation of 

 the diatomacese might perhaps help us to profit directly by the 

 productivity of this organism, and, at the same time, disclose se- 

 crets of nature capable of being turned to valuable account in 

 dealing with sihcious rocks and the metal which is the base of 

 them. 



Our acquaintance with the obscure and infinitesimal life of 

 which I have now been treating is very recent, and still very im- 

 perfect. We know that it is of vast importance in geology, but 

 we are so ambitious to grasp the great, so little accustomed to oc- 

 cupy ourselves with the minute, that we are not yet prepared to 

 enter seriously upon the question how far we can control and 

 utihze the operations, not of unembodied physical forces merely, 

 but of beings, in popular apprehension, almost as immaterial as 

 they. 



DistMrbcmce of Natural Bala/nces, 



It is highly probable that the reef -builders and other yet un- 

 studied minute forms of vital existence have other functions in 

 the economy of nature besides aiding in the architecture of the 

 globe, and stand in important relations not only to man, but to 

 the plants and the larger sentient creatures over which he has 

 dominion. The diminution or multiphcation of these unseen 

 friends or foes may be attended with the gravest consequences to 

 all his material interests, and he is dealing with dangerous weap- 



ment of Foreign Affairs, 1863, pp. 139, 151, and in the Anndli di AgricoUure 

 Industria e Oommereio, No. ii., pp. 360, 878. 



