THE SCHOOL OF THE SHORE 33 
(III.) According to Dr. Church’s interpre- 
tation, the gradual raising of the sea-floor in 
certain places led to the first dry land, and 
some of the seaweeds, which had become very 
complex plants, were transformed into land 
plants. If this is true, it was a great change. 
The roots of seaweeds are only anchors or 
hold-fasts; they would require to be equipped 
with rootlets and root-hairs for absorbing the 
water and salts from the young soil. And the 
whole surface of the sea-plant, suited for ab- 
sorbing water and salts all over, would have 
to become the gas-absorbing surface of the 
land-plant. Moreover, there would need to 
be a system of vessels inside the pioneering 
land-plant for transporting the raw materials 
and the manufactured materials from one 
part of the plant to another; and this is only 
beginning in seaweeds. 
Of course, when we speak of transforma- 
tion, we must not think of the old stories of 
the yellow frog who was suddenly turned into 
a fairy prince, or of the followers of Diomede 
turned into birds, which a scholar-naturalist 
has identified as Shearwaters. Nature’s is no 
quick magic, but here a little change and 
there a little change, so gradually, so slowly, 
