THE EUROPEAN SEAS. 



13 



covered by the retiring waters, is as if a great sheet 

 of hieroglyphics — strange picture-writing — were 

 being unfolded before us. Each line of the rock 

 and strand has its peculiar characters inscribed 

 upon it in living figures, and each figure is a mys- 

 tery, which, though we may describe the appear- 

 ance in precise and formal terms, has a meaning in 

 its life and being beyond the wisdom of man to 

 unravel. How many and how curious problems 

 concern the commonest of the sea-snails creeping 

 over the wet sea-weed ! In how many points of 

 view may its history be considered ! There are its 

 origin and development — the mystery of its gene- 

 ration — the phenomena of its growth — all concern- 

 ing each apparently insignificant individual ; there 

 is the history of the species — the value of its dis- 

 tinctive marks — the features which link it with 

 higher and lower creatures — the reason why it 

 takes its stand where we place it in the scale of 

 creation — the course of its distribution — the causes 

 of its diffusion — its antiquity or novelty — the mys- 

 tery (deepest of mysteries) of its first appearance — 

 the changes of the outline of continents and of 

 oceans which have taken place since its advent, and 

 their influence on its own wanderings. Some of 

 these questions may be clearly and fairly solved ; 

 some of them may be theoretically or hypotheti- 

 cally accounted for ; some are beyond all the subtlety 

 of human intellect to unriddle. I cannot revolve in 

 my mind the many queries which the consideration 



