kohl’s thoughts on dune sand. 
475 
near Egmond, they form a coarse calcareous gravel very 
largely distributed through the sand, while the interior dunes 
between Haarlem and Warmond exhibit no trace of them. It 
is yet undecided whether the presence or absence of these frag¬ 
ments is determined by the period of the formation of the 
dunes, or wdiether it depends on a difference in the process by 
which different dunes have been accumulated. Land shells, 
such as snails, for example, are found on the surface of the 
dunes in abundance, and many of the shelly fragments in 
the interior of the hillocks may be derived from the same 
source.” * 
J. G. Kohl has some poetical thoughts upon the origin and 
character of the dune sands, which are worth quoting: 
“ The sand was composed of pure transparent quartz. I 
could not observe this sand without the greatest admiration. 
If it is the product of the waves, breaking and. crushing flints 
and fragments of quartz against each other; it is a result 
which could be brought about only in the course of countless 
ages. We need not lift ourselves to the stars, to their incal¬ 
culable magnitudes and distances and numbers, in order to 
feel the giddiness of astonishment. Here, upon earth, in the 
simple sand, we find miracle enough. Think of the number 
of sand grains contained in a single dune, then of all the dunes 
upon this widely extended coast—not to speak of the innu¬ 
merable grains in the Arabian, African, and Prussian deserts 
—this, of itself, is sufficient to overwhelm a thoughtful fancy. 
How long, how many times must the waves have risen and 
sunk in order to reduce these vast heaps to powder ! 
66 During the whole time I spent on this coast, I had always 
some sand in my fingers, was rubbing and rolling it about, 
examining it on all sides, holding a little shining grain on the 
tip of my finger, and thinking to myself how, in its corners, 
its angles, its whole configuration, it might very probably 
have a history longer than that of the old German nation— 
possibly longer than that of the human race. Where was the 
original quartz crystal, of which this is a fragment, first 
* Be Bodeni van Nederland , i, p. 82>1 
