CHAPTER XIII. 



OLD OCEAN AS A BUILDER 



Grain by grain His Hand 



Numbers the unmeasurable sand." — C. G. Rossetti. 



. . . The ever changing strand 



Of shifting and unstable sand 

 Which wastes beneath the steady chime 



And beating of the waves." — Whittier. 



AS a vast Cathedral Is made of separate blocks 

 of stone, laid one upon another and cemented 

 together, so a stratified rock is formed of tiny- 

 particles of substance, placed one over another 

 and pressed into solidity. 



Let us scoop up a little sand from the sea- 

 shore, and look at it under a magnifying-glass. 



We shall find a number of loose yellow grains, 

 not all alike in shape, but all somewhat rounded. 

 Most of them are characterised by a glittering 

 hardness, and probably some are transparent. 



For the most part these grains are of a 

 substance called quartz^ which may be almost 

 any colour from white to black. Some beautiful 



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