124 BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEff, 



months, it is raked together and burnt in those hol- 

 lows which we observe on the beach. The ashes 

 form what is called kelp, which is used in the com- 

 position of soap and glass, as well as in the alum 

 works. Soap is an article too well known for its 

 cleansing quality to need description; and without 

 the aid of glass, to what miseries and inconveniences 

 must we be exposed, without taking into consider- 

 ation the darkness that must still have hung over our 

 mental horizon, had it not been for the invigora- 

 ting powers of those magical instruments that have 

 brought a new creation to our notice! But of all the 

 uses to which sea vegetables can be, applied, there 

 is not one so valuable as that to which they may be 

 converted, when in a state of putrescence, in the 

 form of manure, for promoting the interests of agri- 

 culture and vegetation upon land. 



How surprising that these pliant productions of 

 the bed of the ocean, w r hen worn out, or in a state 

 of decay, should possess the amazing qualities of ren- 

 dering more fertile our fields and meadows, of caus- 

 ing the barren tracts to bring forth, and of renovating 

 the exhausted powers of the cultivated districts ! On 

 this strange circuit of reproduction, w r e cannot say, 

 " out of the eater cometh forth meat, and out of the 

 strong came forth sweetness ;" but we have abun- 

 dant reason to remark, that out of death came forth 

 life, that out of putrefaction came forth vitality ! 



