APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS

Hokitika Guardian, 22 January 1932, Page 1

APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS

The examination of a transparent slic e gives a good notion of the manner in which the components of the chalkare arranged, and of their relative proportions. Jsut, by rubbing up some chalk with a brush sin water and then pouring off the milky fluid, so as to obtain sediments of different degrees of fineness, the granules and the minute rounded bodies may be pretty well separated from one another, and submitted to rniscroscopic examination, either as opaque or as transparent objects. By combining the views obtained in these various methods, each of the rounded bodies may be proved to be beautifully constructed calcarlous fabric, made up of a number of chambers, communicating freely with one another. The chambered bodies art*, of various forms. One of the commonest is something like a badly grown raspbei'iy. being formed of a number of nearly globular chambers of different sizes congregated together. It is called Glohigerina, and some soeeimeu.s oi chalk consist of little else than Globigerium and granules. Let ns fix our attention upon the Glohigerina. It is .the spool 1 of the game wo are tracking. If wo can learn what it is and what are the conditions of its existence, we shall see our way to the origin and past history of the chalk.