86 



BRANCH MOLLUSCA 



Fig. 64. The chambered nautilus. 



"Year after year beheld the silent toil 



That spread his lustrous coil; 



Still, as the spiral grew, 

 He left the past year's dwelling for the new, 

 Stole with soft step its shining archway through, 



Built up its idle door, 

 Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more. 



"Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee, 



Child of the wandering sea, 



Cast from her lap, forlorn! 

 From thy dead lips a clearer note is born 

 Than ever Triton blew from wreathed horn! 



While on mine ear it rings, 

 Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings: 



" Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, 

 As the swift seasons roll! 

 Leave thy low- vaulted past! 

 Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 

 Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, 



Till thou at length art free, 

 Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea." 



Oliver Wendell Holmes. 



