The Hassler Expedition

Abstract

UNDER this heading in your number for August 29, p. 354, is this sentence, “One lesson I must confess to having learned at Indefatigable Island (Galapagos). I saw there indisputable proof that the surf of the sea is capable of rounding angular fragments of lava into pebbles somewhat resembling in shape (but not at all in polish and grooving) glacial boulders. I had always from boyhood doubted the power of the sea to make angular fragments round. I had supposed that the action of the surf upon such fragments would be simply to pack them into a sort of McAdam's roadway. And even now, having had the proof that under peculiar circumstances the sea can make a tolerable imitation of drift, I am not a whit more ready to believe that the sea made the drift itself. You may prove to me experimentally that flour can be made from wheat with a pestle and mortar, but that will not convince me that the flour markets of the world are thus supplied.”