THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



91 



In a hill in the environs of Dover, after long prelimi- 

 nary workings, a mine, containing 185 quintals^ of powder 

 Avas sprung in the year 1843. When it was ignited 

 by means of the electric battery, it tore up, almost 

 without any noise, the sides of an imposing mass of chalk, 

 the debris of which, computed at 20,000,000 quintals, was 

 precipitated into the sea, spreading itself in a layer twenty 

 feet thick over an extent of fifteen acres. 



Against what were these formidable engines of war 

 employed ? Against what was this gigantic effort of the 



so. Chalk of Meudon, seen with the Microscope. 



human mind projected ? Simply the piled -tip skeletons 

 of little animalcules which the finger would crush by 

 thousands ! 



The shells of the microscopic molluscs which compose 

 mountains are only formed of carbonate of lime, and are 



^ The quintal is equal to about 110 lbs, English, the livre usuelle, 100 of which 

 form the quintal, being equal to a half kilogramme, or 1 lb. 1 oz. 13 dr. avou'd. 



