388 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Vio 



in the steppes of the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and the 

 Caspian Sea. In winter the heavy rains inundate them, and 

 transform them into impracticable marshes ; spring clothes them 

 with a thick carpet of grasses and other herbaceous plants, so 

 that they reveal to the eye leagues upon leagues of delightful 

 sward cropped by numerous flocks. In summer they undergo 

 a third metamorphosis, and are converted into parched and sun- 

 scathed deserts like those of Nubia or Arabia. In our own 

 life we experience vicissitudes analogous to these. "We have, 

 as Shakespeare says, " the winter of our discontent ; " then we 

 may have a sort of spring-time experience when hope promises 

 days of plenty crowned with future joys. It may also be that, 

 when the time comes which we expected to prove a kind of 

 summer in our existence, we find our anticipations parched into 

 desert-like disappointment by the fierce light of Reality. Like 

 the steppes, we are subject to strange vicissitudes. D. 



The Necessity for Vigilance. 



Perhaps at the very moment when we deem ourselves most 

 secure, we are most in danger. A sleeping passion, or a foe in 

 ambush, may be ready to break out upon us and work our ruin. 

 The birds do not see the fox at hand when he is going to play 

 his most dangerous trick, for then he lies, extended as if dead, 

 and eyes the birds on the hedges and trees, and, if they come 

 within his reach, pounces upon them and kills them. " Let him 

 who thinketh he standeth take heed." R 



The Violent in the Serene. 



The sea, as a rule, is tranquil. Yet what awful power it 

 possesses when it is aroused to fury ! Blocks of stone weighing 

 over thirteen tons have been known to be hurled by it a distance 

 of more than thirty feet, and blocks of three tons to more than 

 one hundred yards. Jetties and bridges are dashed about like 

 toys. The entire harbour of Fecamp was destroyed by its rage, 

 and the mass of earth torn from the north side of Cape la 

 He"ve was estimated at more than 300,000 square yards. Yet 

 these are only among the trifling achievements of the sea when 



