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laborate with the corals in the construction of the reef, 

 these islands are known not only as " low " islands and 

 "lagoon" islands, but also as " coral " islands, or more 

 particularly as "coral atolls." 



The remarkable discovery that coral atolls consist of 

 the remains of animals and plants of precisely the same 

 kinds as those which are at present adding to its 

 substance, excited general interest, and led to many 

 fantastic speculations, which need not now be recalled. 

 The state of opinion at the beginning of this century 

 may best be learned from the works of the poet-naturalist, 

 Chamisso, who may probably be more widely known as 

 the author of "Peter Schlemihl's wunderbare Geschichte " 





FIG. 19. 



(The Story of the Man who sold his Shadow) than as 

 an investigator of coral reefs. In a description, which 

 even in the light of the most recent research must still 

 be pronounced excellent, Chamisso speaks of atolls as 

 table-mountains which rise steeply from great depths 

 (Fig. 19). The summit of the table-mountain is always 

 under water, and is covered by the living reef, which 

 surrounds its margin as a broad platform, and rises to 

 the level of low tides. Sandbanks resting on this form 

 the dry land. Since, he observes, every particle of the 

 atoll which lies within the reach of observation consists 

 of coral, it is only just to conclude that the whole 

 structure, including the table-mountain, is formed of 

 the same material. Not, perhaps, a strictly logical con- 



