Thus do we see the soft and gelatinous body of a polypus, through the agency of the vital laws, conquering the great mechanical power of the waves of an ocean which neither the art of man nor the inanimate works of nature could successfully resist.
Where these words come from
- 95% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
- Journal of Researches / The Voyage of the Beagle (1845 edition); Exact wording and attribution checked. Darwin marvels at reef-building by coral polyps. Historical rhetorical comparison with ocean waves, not a claim that reefs cannot be damaged.
- Journal of Researches / The Voyage of the Beagle (1845 edition)
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