8 SEA AND LAND 



water, nourishes the marine Hfe, and in part in the form of 

 mud is contributed to the strata which in time are to be Hfted 

 into the air with the upward growth of the continent from 

 whence it came. Here as elsewhere modern science has 

 shown that the strife of this world is only apparent ; the 

 result, considered in a large way, is always for the profit of 

 the whole. 



With such a broad preliminary survey in mind, the ob- 

 server may well begin his detailed studies of the shore at 

 some point where the sea and land meet in a steep rocky cliff 

 which descends abruptly, there being a depth of one hundred 

 feet or more next the clifts, from its crest into the sea at its 

 foot. It is easiest to inspect such a bit of shore at a time 

 when the ocean is (juite still ; for then it may be approached 

 in a boat. On the northern coast of the Atlantic, from New 

 York northward, these rocky faces of the shore are gener- 

 ally more or less rounded by the action of the moving sheet 

 of ice which lay upon them during the last glacial period. 

 We are very likely to find the upper portion of the steep, 

 that which is above the level where the waves do their work, 

 still bearing here and there the scratches which so plainly tell 

 of the ice time. Occasionally, when the water at the base of 

 the cliff is deep, this glaciated surface, if the rock be firm 

 set, is preserved even within the belt where the surges im- 

 pinge upon it. This fact tells us that the sea has under 

 certain conditions little effect on a shore of this nature. 

 This is made the clearer by the presence on the surface of 

 the stone of a mass of marine animals and plants, algae, sea 

 anemones, etc., which, firmly adhering to the stones, can 

 resist the blow of the waves. If in times of storm we 

 creep to the verge of such a cliff we may see the waves 



