88 THE UNIVERSE. 



CHAPTEE IV. 



MOUNTAIN BUILDERS. 



Torn from the depths of the crust of the earth, and 

 forcibly upheaved above the clouds by a formidable power, 

 the lofty asperities of the globe, such as the Alps and the 

 Cordilleras, astonish vis by their mass and their elevation. 

 But there are others which, though less gigantic, have 

 quite as marvellous an origin, although of a different kind ; 

 these are the mountains of shells. 



The exuberance of life in the ancient oceans surpassed 

 everything that we can imagine ; our modern seas give us 

 no idea of it. The molluscs lived at that time in such 

 serried and compact masses, that their remains have pro- 

 duced by their accumulation deep strata and lofty emi- 

 nences. 



The phenomena Avhich j)revailed when these were gene- 

 rated exhibit a threefold modification. 



Sometimes seas, the calm of Avhich rivalled their fecun- 

 dity, slowly raised their beds from the cemeteries of their 

 innumerable inhabitants. The shells, quietly deposited 

 there one upon anothei', show no trace of erosion. After 

 so many thousands of years we find them still ornamented 

 with their finest projections, with their imperceptible 

 striae. What do I say ? There ai^e some which still reflect 

 the colours that decorated them in the first days of crea- 

 tion, long before the work was finished ! 



In other places, swarming in the midst of a boundless 

 ocean tumultuously agitated, the shells, ground by its 



