76 THE UNIVERSE. 



few years ago only possessed twenty-six madrepore islands, 

 at present dis2Dlays a hundred and fifty. 



Geologists themselves have dwelt upon the power of 

 these hnilders of ivorkls, as our illustrious Michelet calls 

 them, which recast and changed the surface of the globe 

 at certain antediluvian periods. At that time they swarmed 

 in the immense seas which rolled their tumultuous waves 

 over almost all the lands now covered by our fields and 

 peaceful abodes. Some countries in Europe display remark- 

 ably large banks; ancient Germany and its sombre forests 

 rest on a vast cemetery of corals and madrepores. 



If the Polypi, being such extremely little things as they 

 are, astonish us by the mighty fortresses with which they 

 fetter the ocean, we must admit that they are equally 

 worthy of our admiration when we look upon the task 

 intrusted to them in the midst of their watery solitudes. 

 Their nourishment only consists of the imperceptible debris 

 of animals scattered on every side in the waves, and hence, 

 as Buckland says, they have an important mission to fulfil 

 in the harmony of nature. It is to them that she has 

 confided the office of cleansing the waters of the sea, and 

 purging them of all those very slight impurities which 

 escape the voracious fish. Here, then, we find another 

 reason for humbling ourselves before the wisdom of Pro- 

 vidence ! 



Ellis, when he completed his history of the Polypi, over- 

 whelmed with astonishment at all the magnificence which 

 had been unrolled before his eyes during his long and in- 

 cessant labours, laid down his pen, and humbling himself 

 profoundly, addressed a hymn to the glory of Him who 

 created so many marvels.^ 



' After having sacrificed many long years to the very difticult study of the 

 Polypi, Ellis, when laying dowii his pen, could not refrain, as we have said, 



