04 THE UNIVERSE. 



spite of the perpetual agitation of the waves, and the 

 yreat movements of the mass of the ocean.' 



CHAPTEE I. 



THE CORAL AND ITS BUILDERS. 



Coral, celebrated as far back as in the songs of Orpheus, 

 and considered as one of the most precious productions of 

 the sea, has beheld ages roll away without diminishing its 

 reputation. The Gauls and Indians decorated their swords 

 and armour with it; now-a-days it is only employed in 

 female ornaments. In one country the daughters of Nubia 

 load their ebony shoulders with long necklaces of coral, 

 the clear red gleam of which, in another land, brings out 

 in full relief the satiny white necks of the beautiful Cir- 

 cassians. 4 



But it has required twenty centuries of incessant groj)- 

 ing in the dark to unveil the mysterious natiu^e of this 

 coral. 



^ "If," says Maury, "we throw into a vessel filled ■with water pieces of cork, 

 grains of corn, or any other floating bodies, and communicate a rotatory move- 

 ment to the water, all these light bodies will collect towards the centre, because 

 the water is less agitated there than elsewhere. It is the same tiling with respect 

 to the Atlantic Ocean, only that it is a vessel of larger dimensions. Its waters 

 are set in movement partly bj' the colossal Gulf Stream which extends from Western 

 India to the confines of the Icy Sea of the north, partly by the equatorial current 

 which traverses the Atlantic Ocean from America to Africa. Tlie central point 

 of rest is just about where we find the bank of Algne we have been speaking 

 of. It will thus be understood that these do not necessarily grow where they 

 are found ; it is indeed much more probable that they are driven from the storm- 

 beaten shores towards the calm centre of the Atlantic basin." 



