264 UTILIZATION OF MINUTE LIFE. 



soon detected in the white chalk, many of which 

 may still be found living in the North Sea. It was 

 also found that, in the chalk deposits of Southern 

 Europe, the fossil animalculse are beautifully pre- 

 served ; whilst in the chalk of more northern lati- 

 tudes, their shells are mostly found broken. 



Microscopic vegetable forms., principally Diato- 

 macece, abound also in the foraminiferous chalk, as 

 in the other infusorial deposits of which I have 

 spoken. Mr. E. O'Meara has lately found forty-two 

 species of Diatomacece in the white chalk of Antrim, 

 all of which are identical with living species. 



When we consider the time that these immense 

 deposits of animalculse such as the cliffs of Dover 

 for instance must have taken to accumulate, we 

 can form no adequate idea of it, and we are once 

 again reminded that time is the creation of man 

 that nature knows no time ! 



