Uses of Shells. 17 



But without believing all these fables, more 



poetical than true, we may soon convince ourselves 



that in the hollow chambers of a shell, there does 



seem to dwell, like an imprisoned spirit, a low, sad 



kind of music. An English poet, named Walter 



Savage Landor, has well described this in these 



lines — 



"Of pearly hue 

 Within, and they that lustre have imbibed, 

 In the sun's palace porch, where, when unyoked, 

 His chariot wheel stands midway in the wave ; 

 Shake one, and it awakens ; then apply 

 Its polished lips to your attentive ear, 

 And it remembers its august abodes, 

 And murmurs as the ocean murmurs there." 



Wordsworth, too, gives a beautiful description 

 of a child applying one of these pearly musical- 

 boxes to his ear. 



Many other uses of shells might be mentioned, 

 to show that they perform an important part in the 

 operations of nature, as the means and modes by 

 and in which God sees fit to order the affairs of 

 this world are frequently called ; and also promote 

 the ends of science, and the arts of every-day life. 

 By the decomposition of the shells, of which they 

 are partly composed, solid rocks frequently crumble 

 to pieces, and spreading over a considerable sur- 



