148 



THE SEA. 



This result is interesting. These seas are full of 

 coral-reefs ; they are the very metropolis of the corals 

 and madrepores. To these is allotted the duty of 

 separating the lime held in solution by the sea-water, 

 and to the mollusks, whose massive shells swarm on 

 every bank, and form a broad white band or long 

 high-water mark on every beach. These artisans al- 

 most monopolise the lime-works of the South Pacific, 

 and leave comparatively little calcareous matter for 

 the chambered and perforated dwellings of the tiny 

 Foraminifera, On the other hand, the flint-glass 

 workers find a fair field for their delicate chemistry, 

 and spin their brilliant structures unimpeded. But 

 there seems less of the siliceous than of the calcareous 

 element in the warmer seas, and these operations are 

 there comparatively few. 



Here, again, the microscope bears witness to the 

 perfectly uninjured condition of the majority of these 

 very fragile organisms. Some of the shells even re- 

 tained their soft fleshy parts when subjected to exami- 

 nation. It does not follow as absolutely certain, how- 

 ever, that they were alive when collected at such vast 

 depths. The enormous pressure of the superincum- 

 bent water may have a tendency to prevent, or at 

 least to retard, decomposition; and the bodies, if 

 they, in any cases, sink so rapidly as to reach the 

 great profundities before the soft parts are dissipated, 

 may possibly retain them for an indefinite period. 

 However this may be, it is interesting to find the 

 same testimony to the uninterrupted stillness of the 



