60 



THE PRESENT. 



cules which, half-plant half-animal, stand, as it were, on 

 the verge of organised existence. Restricted to the waters, 

 rooted as sponges to the sea-bed, appearing as infusoria (we 

 cannot tell how) in stagnant and putrid waters, or throng- 

 ing in inconceivable numbers as foraminiferae alike the 

 shallow estuary and the profoundest ocean-depth, their 

 office seems to be the reconversion of organic matter from 

 ultimate decay, and the reconstruction of mineral matter 

 from a state of solution and diffusion. Mere gelatinous 

 specks or glairy films, encased in or encasing some horny, 

 flinty, or limy framework, they constitute the food of many 

 of the lower orders, though their function, on the whole, is 



Radiate Aspect of Animal Life. 



mainly formative or geological. As the calcareous muds of 



