THE SCHOOL OF THE SHORE 29 



or from remains of the plants, or from other 

 animals which have fed on plants. So one 

 incarnation or embodiment follows another in 

 long chains, and this is the circulation of 

 matter. 



It has been calculated that 



One pound of cod means that the cod, to 



make it, had to eat ten pounds of 



whelk or buckie ; 

 One pound of buckie means that the 



buckie, to make it, had to eat ten 



pounds of sea-worms ; 

 One pound of worms means that the 



worms, to make it, had to eat ten 



pounds of vegetable sea-dust. 

 We mean by the vegetable sea-dust the 



microscopic plants and their remains. 



Sometimes the chain is longer, sometimes 

 shorter, but we cannot understand the economy 

 of the sea at all until we get a firm grip of the 

 idea, which the chemist Liebig first made vivid, 

 of the circulation of matter. It is a modern 

 version of what one of the Greek philosophers, 

 Heraclitus, said : ALL THINGS FLOW. 



