CHAPTER XIV. 



LIVING MATTER AND THE EFFECTS OF ITS ACTIVITY ON 

 THE DISTRIBUTION OF TERRESTRIAL SOLIDS, FLUIDS, 

 AND GASES — DEPOSITS FORMED BY THE REMAINS OF 

 PLANTS. 



It has been seen that the fresh and salt waters which run 

 upon, and beat against, the land, are constantly engaged in 

 transporting the materials of which that land is composed 

 from higher to lower levels, A comparatively insignificant 

 fraction of these materials remains in the lakes, which lie in 

 the course of some rivers ; but, by far the greater part, 

 sooner or later, reaches the sea. 



The solid deposits which thus accumulate on the sea- 

 bottom are never exactly equal to the waste of the land, but 

 are always of- less, and frequently of much less, mass. For 

 all the chief constituents of the land are more or less soluble 

 in water; and hence, a larger or smaller proportion of the 

 products of denudation reach the sea in a state of solution, 

 and are diffused through the ocean, as the sugar in a drop of 

 syrup would be diffused through a pail of water. Notably, 

 dissolved carbonate of lime and silica are thus being con- 

 stantly poured into the sea. 



Supposing that no influences were at work upon the earth's 



