FAIEY LAND AMONG THE SPONGES. 

 CHAPTER I. 



WONDERS OF SPONGE STRUCTURE. 



"VTATURE is always intolerant of human presumption. 

 ** Man collects some facts, generalises upon them, 

 establishes theories delightfully satisfactory to their 

 originator, and then settles down in proud consciousness 

 of his own wisdom. But he is not long allowed to rest. 

 Out of her measureless treasure-houses Nature produces 

 some fact equally unexpected and incontrovertible, and 

 the old-established theories melt away like snow-wreaths 

 before the spring-tide sun. 



Not the least among the advantages of physical science 

 is, that those who really study it for its own sake, learn 

 day by day how little they know, and so far from being 



