THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 99 



beauty not surpassed elsewhere, and especially that there 

 is here the same order and rationality and pervasive pur- 

 posiveness that we find elsewhere, then we begin to perceive 

 that the life of the Deep Sea is part of the embodiment of 

 what appears to us as a great thought. To the question 

 of significance, which forces us far beyond Science, William 

 Watson has given us the poet's answer : 



Nay, what is nature's 

 Self, but an endless 

 Strife towards music, 

 Euphony, rhyme ? 



Trees in their blooming, 

 Tides in their flowing, 

 Stars in their circling, 

 Tremble with song. 



God on His throne is 

 Eldest of poets, 

 Unto His measures 

 Moveth the whole. 



IV. THE FRESHWATER FAUNA 



The systematic study of the freshwater fauna began 

 before that of the shore or of the deep sea, for men like 

 Reaumur (1683-1757), Rosel von Rosenhof (1705-1759), 

 and Trembley (1700-1784), who had the joy of discovering 

 and naming some of the commonest inhabitants of our 

 lakes and ponds, laid broad and deep foundations before 

 there was much in the way of marine zoology. But when 

 the fauna of the sea began to be systematically studied, 

 attention was in great measure charmed away from the 

 freshwaters, and it is only in the last quarter of a century 

 or so that this haunt of life has begun again to receive its 

 due share of investigation. 



