"MANY A LITTLE MAKES A MIOKLE." 207 



their bodies are indestructible. Thus, their constantly- 

 accumulating remains are gradually deposited in strata, 

 under the waters of the sea as well as in lakes and ponds. 

 At first the effect produced by things so small thou- 

 sands of which might be contained in a drop, and mil- 

 lions packed together in a cubic inch, may appear of 

 trifling moment, when speaking of so grand an operation 

 as the deposition of submarine strata. But as each mo- 

 ment has its value in the measurement of time, to what- 

 ever extent of ages the succession may be prolonged, so 

 each of these atoms has a definite relation to space, and 

 their constant production and deposition will at length 

 result in mountains. The examination of the most an- 

 cient of the stratified rocks, and of all others in the as- 

 cending scale, and the investigation of deposits now in 

 course of formation, teach us that from the first dawn of 

 animated nature up to the present hour this prolific 

 family has never ceased its activity. England may boast 

 that the sun never sets upon her empire, but here is an 

 ocean realm whose subjects are literally more numerous 

 than the sands of the sea. We cannot count them by 

 millions simply, but by hundreds of thousands of mil- 

 lions. Indeed it is futile to speak of numbers in rela- 

 tion to things so unaccountable. Extensive rocky strata, 

 chains of hills, beds of marl, almost every description of 

 soil, whether superficial or raised from a great depth, 

 contain the remains of these little plants in greater or 

 less abundance. Some great tracts of country are literally 

 built up of their skeletons. No country is destitute of 

 such monuments, and in some they constitute the leading 

 features in the structure of the soil. The world is a vast 



