The Mighty Deep 



from the two, and to build of the manufactured 

 carbonate-of-lime a shell for its own use. 



Thenceforward, for a little space, the jelly- 

 speck lives in that shell, and feeds in that shell, 

 and then it dies in that shell. When it exists no 

 longer, down sinks the lifeless skeleton, to serve 

 a new purpose at the bottom of the sea. 



No mere shapeless lumps are these shells, 

 flung together without care or plan. Each one, 

 however infinitesimal in size, is a delicate and 

 elaborate construction; each one shows the carry- 

 ing out of a definite and beautiful plan. A 

 different design serves for each species and kind 

 of jelly-speck not for each individual. 



Such Design we must ascribe to a MIND 

 lying beyond that which we see ; not to the 

 jelly-speck itself, which acts as an unconscious 

 architect, working automatically, as you and I 

 work in the early growth and later renewal of 

 our bony frameworks, the " secreting" of our 

 skeletons. 



No chance tossing together of particles of 

 carbonate-of-lime could result in the exquisite 

 forms, the intricate patterns, of these little shells ; 

 still less, in such patterns being faithfully re- 

 produced by millions of living jelly-specks, each 

 according to its own class or variety. 



142 



