CORAL REEFS, AND ISLANDS. 285 



from the sea, and the sea can only get its materials 

 by dissolving it from calcareous rocks of some kind. 

 The dead corals are amongst its greatest quarries. 

 The inconceivable, and immeasurable quantities, which 

 have been dissolved out of the lagoons, and sheltered 

 seas of the Pacific, and of the Indian Ocean, are not 

 greater than the immeasurable quantities which are 

 again used up, in the vast new reefs of growing coral, 

 and in the calcareous covering of an inconceivable 

 number of other marine animals." 



Such a conception the noble Duke thinks may 

 "not be so imposing as that of a whole continent 

 gradually subsiding, of its long coasts marked by 

 barrier reefs, of its various hills, and irregularities of 

 surface, marked by islands of corresponding size, and 

 finally, of the atolls indicating where its highest 

 peaks finally disappeared beneath the sea. But, on 

 the other hand," he considers, " the new explanation 

 more like the analogies of nature, more closely 

 correlated with the wealth of her resources, with 

 those curious reciprocities of service, which all her 

 agencies render to each other, and which indicate so 

 strongly the ultimate unity of her designs." 



We have considered it advisable to give in full, and 

 in his own language, the impeachment of Darwin's 

 theory, and elucidation of his own, which the noble 

 author has advanced. Albeit, it is confessed, that for 

 the new theory he is indebted to Mr. John Murray, 



