SUBMARINE MASON HY. 267 



a man perform who works in the (^ark, casting liis 

 materials ji1 nost haphazar<l into the lap of an ele- 

 ment which de dares not or cannot grapple with? 

 Would his labours be much more valuable if he had 

 to dive and leave the water every instant, throwing 

 only a coup d'oeil over the work which he could not 

 wait to improve or advance ? 



When, by continuous eiforts, and by the use of an 

 immense amount of materials, man shall have built 

 up a foundation in the bed of the sea, he will still 

 find himself continually arrested by the difficulty oi" 

 making permanent progress at the surface. In calm 

 weather his building goes on apace ; he is proud of it, 

 and regards the sea as a subjugated enemy. But 

 the furious waves of a sudden tempest breaks down 

 his work as if by enchantment, as if it had deter 

 mined to crush man with the greater humiliation 

 for having allowed him sufficient re>pite to make 

 such arduous progress. 



The beautiful breakwater at Cherbourg, one of 

 the most gigantic of modern undertakings, had been 

 thrown down many times by the sea before it stood 

 in its invincible strength to form an impassable 

 barrier to the fury of the waves. Such works were 

 formerly built by casting into the sea at the chosen 

 site a vast number of immense boulders, stones, and 

 concrete, piling them up in the irregular pell-melJ 



