THE GRIST OF THE GODS 



life in the soil, how the organic has wedded and 

 blended with the inorganic in the ground we walk 

 upon. Many if not all of the sedimentary rocks 

 that were laid down in the abysms of the old ocean, 

 out of which our soil has been produced, and that 

 are being laid down now, out of which future soils 

 will be produced, were and are largely of organic 

 origin, the leavings of untold myriads of minute 

 marine animals that lived millions of years ago. 

 Our limestone rocks, thousands of feet thick in 

 places, the decomposition of which furnishes some 

 of our most fertile soils, are mainly of plant and 

 animal origin. The chalk hills of England, so 

 smooth and plump, so domestic and mutton-sug- 

 gesting, as Huxley says, are the leavings of minute 

 creatures called Globigerinw, that lived and died in 

 the ancient seas in the remote past. Other similar 

 creatures, Radiolaria and diatoms, have played an 

 equally important part in contributing the founda- 

 tion of our soils. Diatom earth is found in places 

 in Virginia forty feet thick. The coral insects have 

 also contributed their share to the soil-making rocks. 

 Our marl-beds, our phosphatic and carbonaceous 

 rocks, are all largely of animal origin. So that much 

 of our soil has lived and died many times, and has 

 been charged more and more during the geologic 

 ages or eternities with the potencies of life. 



Indeed, Huxley, after examining the discoveries 

 of the Chalknger expedition, says there are good 

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