THE ■WONDERS OF THE SHORE. 139 



this is the case with zoophytes, having found 

 water in which they were growing (unless, of 

 course, sea-weeds were present) to be peculiarly 

 ready to become foul : but it is difficult to say 

 whether this is owing to their deoxygenating the 

 water while alive, like other animals, or to the 

 fact that it is very rare to get a specimen of 

 zoophyte in which a large number of the polypes 

 Iiave not been killed in the transit home, or at 

 least so far knocked about, that (in the Anthozoa, 

 which are far the most abundant) the polype — 

 or rather living mouth, for it is little more — is 

 thrown off to decay, pending the growth of a 

 fresh one in the same cell. 



But all tlie sea-weeds, in common with other 

 vegetables, perform this function continually, and 

 thus maintain the water in which they grew in a 

 state fit to support animal life. 



Tliis fact, first advanced by Priestley and 

 Ingenliousz, and, though doubted by the great 

 Kliis, satisfactorily ascertained by Professor 

 Daubcny, Mr. Ward, Dr. Johnston, and INIr. 

 Warington, gives an answer to the (jucstion, 

 which I hope has ere now arisen in the minds 

 of some of my readers. 



How is it possible to sec these wonders at 



