CHAPTER XIII. 

 OLD OCEAN AS A BUILDER 



" Grain by grain His Hand 

 Numbers the unmeasurable sand." C. G. ROSSETTI. 



"... The ever changing strand 

 Of shifting and unstable sand 

 Which wastes beneath the steady chime 

 And beating of the waves." WHITTIER. 



AS a vast Cathedral is made of separate blocks 

 *^^ of stone, laid one upon another and cemented 

 together, so a stratified rock is formed of tiny 

 particles of substance, placed one over another 

 and pressed into solidity. 



Let us scoop up a little sand from the sea- 

 shore, and look at it under a magnifying-glass. 



We shall find a number of loose yellow grains, 

 not all alike in shape, but all somewhat rounded. 

 Most of them are characterised by a glittering 

 hardness, and probably some are transparent. 



For the most part these grains are of a 

 substance called quartz, which may be almost 

 any colour from white to black. Some beautiful 



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