The Mighty Deep 



ooze or mud, which in later times should be 

 slowly hardened into chalk. 



But the greater wonder has yet to be told 

 about these shells these tiny highly - finished 

 constructions. 



Not only did a speck of living jelly once 

 inhabit each shell. That speck of living jelly 

 actually MADE the shell. 



Not deliberately. Not with intention. Not 

 even consciously. The " making " is in no sense 

 to be confounded with voluntary effort, with the 

 labour which means exertion and fatigue. It was 

 as instinctive, as involuntary, as the "making" 

 of bones in your body and mine. 



" But we do not make our bones," somebody 

 may protest, with a touch of indignation. 



Undoubtedly, in a sense, we do. The jelly- 

 speck does not more surely " secrete " its shell, 

 than a man " secretes " his skeleton. Personal 

 will has not to do with the task in either case, 

 beyond the taking in of necessary food ; and 

 neither man nor jelly-speck may claim any credit 

 on the score of the pattern worked out. 



We have all seen a garden-snail, carrying 

 lightly upon its back its shell or " house," or 

 outside skeleton. That shell is formed of car- 

 bonate-of-lime. In the snail's slimy body exists 



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