474 DOMAIN V. CALCAREOUS. 



itself is now known to be the gradual structure of 

 minute insects, which thus surpass all the powers 

 of man ; for the locust can spread more destruc* 

 tion than an Attila, a Timur, or any other 

 conqueror : and a beneficent monarch can only 

 found a city; while insects almost invisible found 

 islands, and even continents, the scenes of future 

 glory and misery to mankind. 



Whether these insects produce the matter of 

 coral, or imbibe it from the waters of the ocean, 

 these islands rise from a surprising depth, and, 

 when they surpass the waves, begin to produce 

 lichens and mosses; which, decaying and rot- 

 ting, afford a soil for other small vegetables, till 

 by degrees reeds, shrubs, and trees, begin to 

 decorate the new creation. The calcareous soil 

 being fertile, these islands will in the course of 

 centuries invite colonies, whose future mineral- 

 ogists may perhaps be embarrassed to account 

 for their native rocks; which may at once con- 

 fer benefits on agriculture and on architecture, 

 for zoophytic marble will not be wanting for 

 the construction of their edifices. 



Rocks of a somewhat similar nature abound 

 near Sutherland, on the eastern coast of England; 

 and near Peterhoff, at the further extremity of 

 the Gulf of Finland. This singular limestone 

 seems composed of tubes of madrepore or coral, 



