124 FUNAFUTI: A SEQUEL 



the middle. Whenever necessary thin, transparent slices 

 were obtained from it for examination under the microscope. 

 No less than four hundred of these slices were made and 

 afterwards carefully investigated. All this material is 

 now deposited in the British Museum, and is open to 

 the examination of any competent observer who may 

 desire to see it. Dr. Hinde, especially distinguished for 

 his studies of such organisms as contribute to the 

 formation of coral reefs and other oceanic formations, 

 and well known for his accuracy in observation and 

 cautious judgment, was good enough to undertake the 

 investigation of the cores, and devoted a not inconsider- 

 able portion of his life to the accomplishment of this 

 work. It is on the statements of this observer that we 

 shall mainly rely. 



The editor of the report has carefully abstained from 

 " pointing a moral " ; he contents himself with the remark 

 that " the composition, zoological and chemical, of an 

 atoll down to a depth of 1,114 feet has now for the first 

 time been made known." * 



The question is thus left open to discussion. Some 

 may think that the facts speak so plainly for themselves 

 as to stand in no need of an interpreter. This may indeed 

 be the case, but a conclusion admitted by one person may 

 be contested by another ; and so, without further apology, 

 I shall venture to point out the consequences which, to 

 my mind, seem to follow naturally from the observations. 



I do this the more readily because science shares, in 

 common with all subjects which admit of exact proof, an 

 exemption from the bitterness of controversy. When the 

 prospect of proof seems to lie remote there may be a 

 danger of yielding to our tastes or prepossessions, but 

 when it is both attainable and not far out of reach, it 

 necessarily imposes a wholesome restraint, so that neither 

 * Op. cit., p. xiii. 



