104 



THE WATERS. 



" In like manner, when we meet with a limestone rock 

 entirely composed of the calcareous shells of Foraminifera, 

 some of them entire, others broken up into minute par- 

 ticles we interpret the phenomenon by the fact that the 

 dredgings obtained from certain parts of the ocean-bottom, 

 consist almost entirely of remains of existing Foraminifera, 

 in which entire shells the animals of which may be yet 

 alive are mingled with the debris of others that have 

 been reduced by the action of the waves to a fragmentary 

 state. 



" Now, in the fine white mud which is brought up from 

 almost every part of the sea-bottom of the Levant, where it 

 forms a stratum that is continually undergoing a slow but 

 steady increase in thickness, the microscopic researches of 

 Professor Williamson have shown that not only are there 

 multitudes of minute remains of living organisms, both 

 animal and vegetable, but that it is entirely or almost 

 wholly composed of such remains." 



ORGANISMS FROM MUD. 



The water of the sea is everywhere salt, except at the 

 mouths of great rivers, where the quantity of fresh water 

 displaces that which properly belongs to the sea. The cause 

 of its saltness is the solution of a natural mineral (chloride 



