472 THE CHEMISTRY OF CREATION. 



exposed, had become oxidized, the steaming 

 cliff gradually cooled down ; and now the slow 

 and silent work of mechanical and chemical 

 destruction is being carried on without any 

 external manifestation of its existence. The 

 heat given out during this singular and grand 

 chemical phenomenon was so great as to con- 

 vert masses of clay in its vicinity into red brick ! 

 while melted slags lie about, giving to the whole 

 scene such an appearance as to render it a fit 

 representation of the workshop of the mytho- 

 logical Cyclops. 



We have to notice another part of the che- 

 mistry of the waves, not less interesting, though 

 less sensible in its effects. It has been men- 

 tioned, in treating of the subject of rain, that 

 in order to obtain the solution of a gas, che- 

 mists and others have recourse to an apparatus 

 by which the particles of the fluid, generally 

 water, are separated from one another, and 

 beaten into a foam. In the action of waves 

 upon a coast we may observe a means of ob- 

 taining precisely the same end. If we watch 

 the breaking of a wave, we shall see, in the 

 manner in which it falls, a beautiful provision 

 for effecting this object. Advancing toward 

 the shore a sloping hillock of water, it increases 

 gradually in height as the waters become more 

 shallow ; and becoming higher still, and more 



