CHAPTER IV. 



LIFE IN THE WATERS. 



IT is a reflection calculated to awaken feelings 

 of wondering interest to remember that the 

 world of waters before us is not a blank and 

 desert world, but is tenanted with animals and 

 plants, and is the scene of as much of the bustle 

 of life as is the earth or the air. Little of this 

 appears to the eye, and in a still summer's day, 

 the mind, beguiled into this belief by the calm 

 and unbroken aspect of the water, is unwill- 

 ing to admit the scarcely-moved ocean to be in 

 reality the theatre where the drama of life 

 is played as universally as on land. But on 

 descending to the shore and investigating matters 

 a little more closely, this idea vanishes, and we 

 become filled with astonishment at the number, 

 beauty, and variety of the marine inhabitants. 

 The , chemical connexion of these with each 

 other, and with the water in which they dwell, 

 will form the subject of the present chapter. 

 The following extract from Dr. Greville's 



