470 THE CHEMISTRY OF CREATION. 



the fine powdery material, and convey it very 

 far from its place of origin. 



Wheresoever transported, of its ultimate 

 deposition there can be no doubt. The bed 

 of the ocean is being constantly overlaid with 

 such matter, accumulating from age to age, 

 though with such extreme slowness as to defy 

 in most instances our detection. In 1,000 

 years the whole surface of the bottom would 

 not be raised a foot by the detritus washed 

 into it from the whole world. Shells and 

 marine creatures of various kinds are becom- 

 ing imbedded in it, and the time may per- 

 haps arrive when the sediment now washed 

 off in powder, and borne away, we know not 

 whither, may reappear and become dry land 

 again, become adorned with vegetation, and 

 peopled with animals and men. 



A highly' interesting event, in connexion 

 with the chemistry of the waves, and important 

 as illustrating their combined mechanical and 

 chemical force, took place on the coast of Bal- 

 lybunnion in Ireland. The cliffs on this coast 

 contain a large quantity of alum and iron 

 pyrites ; and being incessantly exposed to the 

 violent action of the Atlantic billows, they 

 become worn away into the most strange forms. 

 Large caverns, natural bridges, and the resem- 

 blances of human architecture, abound on the 



