Foreign Literature and Science. 207 



We have now neither time nor space to analyse the vol- 

 ume before us. Indeed, most of its topics are not particu- 

 larly appropriate to this work, although it would not be diffi- 

 cult to occupy some of our pages very profitably by citing 

 from it, facts relating to science, and to various topics of 

 useful knowledge. We shall however confine our citations 

 to a single passage, relating to the coral reefs, and the little 

 animals by which they are formed. 



" The examination of a coral reef during the different stages 

 of one tide is particularly interesting. When the sea has left it 

 for some time it becomes dry, and appears to be a compact rock, 

 exceedingly hard and ragged ; but no sooner does the tide rise 

 again and the waves begin to wash over it, than millions of coral 

 worms protrude themselves from holes on the surface which 

 were before quite invisible. These animals are of a great va- 

 riety of shapes and sizes, and in such prodigious numbers, that 

 in a short time the whole surface of the rock appears to be alive 

 and in motion. The most common of the worms at Loo-Choo 

 was in the form of a star, with arms from four to six inches long, 

 which it moved about with a rapid motion in all directions, prob- 

 ably in search of food. Others were so sluggish that they were 

 often mistaken for pieces of the rock ; these were generally of a 

 dark color, and from four to five inches long, and two or three 

 round. When the rock was broken from a spot near the level 

 of high water, it was found to be a hard solid stone, but if any 

 part of it were detached at a level to which the tide reached 

 every day, it was discovered to be full of worms of all different 

 lengths and colors, some being as fine as thread and several feet 

 long, generally of a very bright yellow, and sometimes of a 

 blue color ; while others resembled snails, and some were not 

 unlike lobsters or prawns in shape, but soft, and not above two 

 inches long. 



" The growth of coral ceases when the worm which creates 

 it is no longer exposed to the washing of the tide. Thus a reef 

 rises in the form of a gigantic cauliflower, till its top has gained 

 the level of the highest tides, above which the worm has no 

 power to carry its operations, and the reef, consequently, no 

 longer extends itself upwards. The surrounding parts, howev- 

 er, advance in succession till they reach the surface, where they 

 also must stop. Thus, as the level of the highest tide is the 

 eventual limit to every part of the reef, a horizontal field comes 

 to be formed coincident with that plane, and perpendicular on 

 all sides. The reef, however, continually increases, and being 

 prevented from going higher, must extend itself laterally in all 

 directions ; and this growth being probably as rapid at the upper 

 edge as it is lower down, the steepness of the face of the reef 



