The Pond 



ganic refuse; it retains the carbon, which is 

 wrought into fresh tissues; it exhales the oxy- 

 gen in tiny bubbles. These partly dissolve in 

 the water and partly reach the surface, where 

 their froth supplies the atmosphere with an ex- 

 cess of breathable gas. The dissolved portion 

 keeps the colonists of the pond alive and 

 causes the unhealthy products to be oxidized 

 and disappear. 



Old hand though I be, I take an interest in 

 this trite marvel of a bundle of weeds per- 

 petuating hygienic principles in a stagnant 

 pool; I look with a delighted eye upon the in- 

 exhaustible spray of spreading bubbles; I see 

 in imagination the prehistoric times when sea- 

 weed, the first-born of plants, produced the 

 first atmosphere for living things to breathe 

 at the time when the silt of the continents was 

 beginning to emerge. What I see before my 

 eyes, between the glass panes of my trough, 

 tells me the story of the planet surrounding it- 

 self with pure air. 



181 



