New-York tribune., 1842-04-06
ii. CLAY.
Coral Reefs.

To the Editors Of the Tribune
Prof LyelI in his Lecture on he orlnatloh
Of Coral Reefs stated that the Coral Animal
ceases building whencverits structure has reached
sufficient hight to be left by the sea at low tide
The reef is then raised, among other things, 6y
calcareous sand being deposited npon 1t oy the
.;nd Whence This calcnrcous sand is derived is
= question to which can find no satisfactory Solu-
ton. nor have been able to obtain one from sevc
raj persons of some scientific celebrity TO whom
have applied for information.
MANY of these reefs are several hundreds OF
miles from any other land: some OF them are sescn
hundred from the nearest island and above thou-
sand from the continent, distance tar too great
TO favor the idea that the sand could byany chance
be blown from them for long ere 1t had travcrSed
small portion of that space every gram OF II
must have been p,ecipltated IN the ocean i''ueeu'
there is no instance on record where even the al
most npalpablc ashes ejected during volcanic
eruptions have. under the most favorable clreun-
stances, reached the same distance. Nor Is inc
sand deposited by the waves through inc ACTON oi
the wind. as the Coral Animal can only ouilu IN
perfectly clear water, tree from any Snna'
Another question, equally incomprehensiblc to
it possible that such a lu1uriant vegetation as Is
REPRESENTED to cothe these reefs can be sustained
m soil where nothing Of argillaceous or Slll-
cious nature enters into its ompo>itlon-hothlnS
bn, n coral Formations covered 10 Il SINAI! depth by
a wb;,e olitterinw sand 1t certainly appears
impossible that pure cacareou> matter alone, u''
mixed with any other ingredients, 'lenio 1c e"P"
bic Of Welding sufficient nourishment' TO sustain
in rank growth such immense trees, that ol'en az
tain an altitude of from eighty to a hundred tee''
ym, will confer an obligation by laying tins be-
fore YOU, readers, in the hope that 'ohic OF t'ie'
may be induced to solve these en'gmaS, or that IL
may meet the eye of Professor b., VINO oouotleSS
i competca, and will be willing to explain them,
or any other knotty points III his tavorte science
tha, would seem to be coatrarv 10 reason, L..
" Unless we greatly err, our correspondent
queries NAV DC easily answered. As to the TACT
tina, the coral reef. arc often raised above the sur
face b, the deposition OF calcareous sand by the
wind. i, MAY be thus explained The action OF
the waves and of the sun upon the mass ut lt'
edge cause. it TO crack and break away-and the
wind and pillows together throw these fragments
upon the reef and this is carried ON to an Indefinite
extent or at least until the summit is beyond the
reach of the waves, Then the shells Of echui and
,nollusks are deposited ,here-and finally united
By the fine cacareous sand, produced by the pull
vcrization ef the shells they move upon each
other. The reef thus-although II grows higher
becomes less in circumference, and this conunucs
until its maximum hight is reached
AS 10 the second question we believe calcareouS
sand Of itself furnishes soil sufficient tor the sup
port Of vegetation. But even if it we're not So
there are living zoophytcs which have the power
Of sccre,ing silicious matter from the waters OF
the sea-iust us the mollusca scere'e eascafeoos
PARTICLES. and these nigh, easily be thrown upon
the reef. Those microscopic animslcul;e, wh'ch
have been found IN Bohemia composing the Pa'''-
cles of,hc purely sicous stone called 'rapos, may
also exist there. &c
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