THE SCHOOL OF THE SHORE 33 



(III.) According to Dr. Church's interpreta- 

 tion, the gradual raising of the sea-floor in 

 certain places led to the first dry land, and 

 some of the seaweeds, which had become very 

 complex plants, were transformed into land 

 plants. If this is true, it was a great change. 

 The roots of seaweeds are only anchors or 

 hold-fasts ; they would require to be equipped 

 with rootlets and root-hairs for absorbing the 

 water and salts from the young soil. And the 

 whole surface of the sea-plant, suited for ab- 

 sorbing water and salts all over, would have to 

 become the gas-absorbing surface of the land- 

 plant. Moreover, there would need to be a 

 system of vessels inside the pioneering land- 

 plant for transporting the raw materials and 

 the manufactured materials from one part of the 

 plant to another ; and this is only beginning in 

 seaweeds. 



Of course, when we speak of transformation, 

 we must not think of the old stories of the 

 yellow frog who was suddenly turned into a 

 fairy prince, or of the followers of Diomede 

 turned into birds, which a scholar-naturalist 

 has identified as Shearwaters. Nature's is no 

 quick magic, but here a little change and there 

 a little change, so gradually, so slowly, that if 

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