430 



Marvels of the Universe 



larger than the pin's head, such, for example, are the nummulites, or coin-shaped fossils, to which 

 reference will be made. 



Some of the shells consist of a single compartment ; others of a number of compartments 

 arranged one after the other in a single line, which may be straight or rolled on itself as a spiral. 

 There are others with cells or chambers arranged in double or triple rows. Others have their minute 

 compartments fashioned around invisible axes, if we may so term them. Now if we imagine the 



first cell to be an exceedingly 

 small one and the next a 

 little larger, and so on as the 

 gradual additions are formed, 

 until the most recentlj' added 

 cell is the largest, we shall have 

 an idea of a structure that re- 

 sembles a pyramid with its 

 graduated divisions. This is 

 a very characteristic form 

 among the " Forams." We 

 might proceed in this manner 

 to describe different structural 

 arrangements of the cells, and 

 we should find at the end of a 

 long period of time that we 

 had by no means exhausted 

 all the different types and 

 shapes assumed by these tiny 

 marine organisms. 



With very few exceptions, 

 which are doubtful, the body 

 proper of the creature is 

 continuous through all the 

 different compartments in each 

 shell. This is a fact which is 

 very marvellous when we con- 

 sider that scores of cavities or 

 chambers are present in nearly 

 all these little shelly homes. 



In the many wonderful pro- 

 cesses involved and agencies 

 utilized through countless ages 

 in the building-up of this great 

 fitly times.) world, the " Forams " occupy 



a prominent position, owing to the extensive results of their existence. They are a tiny people, 

 but they have left behind them, and their modern representatives are still leaving, a record 

 on the side of the elevating influences probably second to no other forms of life. Their work 

 goes on, and is likely to go on as long as the world lasts. In point of actual numbers, it is 

 not at all unlikely that they are the most numerous agents that are employed in the construction 

 of the earth. 



Even if we omit all reference to the geological formations of America, Asia and Oceania, we 

 shall find abundant evidence in the rocks of Europe and Northern Africa of the tremendous record 



'JPIwto hil] 



FOSSIL FORAMIN'IFERA. 



This is a section through a piece of limestone largely cansistins of Foraminifera. 

 Many important buildins^s are erected of such stone, and the Pyramids of Egypt are 

 formed of nummulites which are a large form of Foraminifera. (Magnified about 



