18 HISTORY OF BRITISH ZOOPHYTES. 



broken by the first fall, they carry them up to a greater 

 height, that they may descend with increased impetus. 

 Such are some of the various ways in which an all- wise God 

 beneficently acts unseen, overruling for good so many of the 

 actions of his creatures. 



To return to our corals, however. If the smallest frag- 

 ment of coral is an object of interest, what bounds shall 

 we set to our admiration when we consider that there are 

 thousands of islands, many of them of great extent, the 

 materials of which are chiefly formed by the coral-working 

 creatures ; that in the Pacific Ocean, and amidst the South 

 Sea Islands, there are coral reefs extending hundreds of 

 miles, which have all the appearance of being the work of 

 these little marine artificers ! We may state that there is 

 a considerable diversity of opinion as to the extent of the 

 operation of coral polypes in the formation of these islands 

 and reefs, some arguing that only the upper portion can be 

 the work of the polypes, as it has been proved that they can- 

 not live at a greater depth than 30 or 50 fathoms. Even 

 granting that only 50 fathoms, or 300 feet, of the upper 

 part of the reef is their workmanship, how prodigious even 

 then would be the accumulated amount of their operations ! 

 How much even then would they cast into the shade the 



