182 AGE OF CORAL REEFS. 



bay and inlet of our Southern coasts, from hav- 

 ing been engaged in the extensive researches 

 undertaken bj Dr. Bache, and carried out under 

 his guidance. Many even of the pilots of our 

 Southern fleets are men who have been employed 

 upon this work, and owe their knowledge of the 

 coast to their former occupation. It is a singular 

 fact, that at this very time, when the whole coun- 

 try feels its obligation to the men who have 

 devoted so many years of their lives to these 

 investigations, a proposition should have been 

 brought forward in Congress for the suspension 

 of the Coast-Survey on economical grounds. 

 Happily, the almost unanimous rejection of this 

 proposition has shown the appreciation in which 

 the work is held by our national legislature. 

 Even without reference to their practical useful- 

 ness, it is a sad sign, when, in the hour of her 

 distress, a nation sacrifices first her intellectual 

 institutions. Then, more than ever, when she 

 needs all the culture, all the wisdom, all the 

 comprehensiveness of her best intellects, should 

 she foster the institutions that have fostered 

 them, and in which they have been trained to do 

 good service to their country in her time of need. 

 Several of the Florida Keys, such as Key 

 West and Indian Key, are already large, inhabited 

 islands, several miles in extent. The interval 

 between thein and the main-land is gradually 



