Sequence

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 104, 26 January 1935, Page 20

Sequence

“Have you ever amused yourself by making chains—not steel chains, nor chains of any metal, but just chains of sequences with dependent links of diverse sorts?” asks Dr. W. J. Dakin, in “Whalemen Adventurers.” “Here is a good one:— “(a) Sea water, with its dissolved mineral matter, is utilised by “(b) Invisible green plants which float in it and build up their microscopic living bodies with stuffs made from those mineral salts. “(e) These micro-plants are eaten by little animalcules, which in turn fall a prey to “(d) Bigger ones, and these in their turn to the shrimp-like Euphausias, which are themselves food for whales. “(e) The whales build up their monster bodies, containing great quantities of oil, out of these tiny Crustacea, and then ‘•(f) man comes along and kills them and extracts the oil. “(g) The oil goes to Europe and is converted into glycerine, which (h) is combined by the chemist with other substance into explosives which may be used to blast out gold, or roads, or may be employed by human beings in killing each other.”