THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE 



and which still contains mussels and sea-anem- 

 ones as proof of its oceanic origin. At the same 

 period these places at the bottom of the deep 

 cavern were also beneath the ocean, with the lime 

 layer already piled up mountain thick. All of 

 these little animal coverings found here in the 

 rock were once a part of actual living beings, 

 swimming around in the ocean. They were 

 laid down millions of years ago in the lime 

 layer and now as broken fragments of that layer 

 are buried in this dark abyss where the water has 

 gnawed out these mighty stalactite hollows. 



Do you hear the drops slowly falling down 

 these stalactites ? It is the ticking of the century 

 clock. From this we can construct an instru- 

 ment that shall be to time what the microscope 

 is to dimension, and in whose illumination we 

 shall see, not an enlarged chalk scale, but a land- 

 scape of grotesque majesty. 



The old Paleozoic age arises with all its ex- 

 aggerated marvels. 



The warm sun paints a silver plate in a wide 

 blue ocean. This water column rests on a deep 

 slime carpet that is today the white chalk of 

 Riigen. The waves lap on the shore, and mix 

 with the fresh water, and take on a dirty yellow 

 color from the suspended sediment, like the 

 Mediterranean water at the delta of the Nile. 

 But the giant stream that mshes down from 

 yonder blue mountains to the ocean, comes from 

 114 



