Chrysanthemum

The name chrysanthemum means “golden flower” in Latin. Actually, the colors range from pale yellow to chestnut or from pink to crimson, and many varieties are white. The flower heads may be single, like daisies, or double. In size they range from tiny pompons to immense hothouse flowers. The plants are rather coarse and strongly scented. They are usually reproduced from cuttings.
Chrysanthemums were highly developed in China and Japan long before they were brought to Europe. Seeds from Korea were sent to Japan in the 4th century AD, and the flower has long been an emblem of the Japanese imperial house.
The genus Chrysanthemum belongs to the family Compositae. Most popular in gardens is the buttonlike pompon, a form of the florists' C. morifolium. Single-flowered types include the large white Shasta daisy and moon daisies (C. maximum), the small white feverfews (C. parthenium), and the gaudy tricolor (C. carinatum).
Popular florists' varieties of chrysanthemums are the pyrethrums, or painted daisies (C. coccineum), and the white or lemon-colored marguerites, or Paris daisies (C. frutescens). Feverfew and pyrethrum are used in insecticides.

Plum

The most widely distributed of the stone fruits, plums exist in great variety throughout much of Europe, Asia, and North America. They range in size from as small as a cherry to as large as a hen's egg and vary in color from purple or dark blue to red, yellow, or green. Their texture may be firm or soft and their flavor bitter or sweet.
Plums are divided into three groups—European, Japanese, and native North American—based on their geographic origins. European plums include the familiar blue fruits commonly found in European and American markets. They are widely grown in the New England states and on the Pacific coast. The tart damson plums, from which jams and jellies are made, belong to this group, as do the firm sweet varieties that are dried to make prune
The red and yellow Japanese plums are less hardy than the European varieties and so are commonly hybridized with the American species for cultivation in colder regions. They are grown in the United States in much the same region as the European plums, as well as somewhat farther south.
Native North American plums are not as sweet or highly prized as are the European and Japanese fruits. They are quite hardy, however, and produce resistant, high-quality hybrids.
Plums are eaten fresh or dried (as prunes), cooked, or baked in a variety of pastries. In Eastern Europe they are used to make slivovitz, a popular brandy.
Plum trees are generally small and deciduous. Some varieties called flowering plums are cultivated purely as ornamentals. Their small flowers may be white or pink to red. Plums belong to the genus Prunus.

Grapes
Fossilized leaves, seeds, and stems of grapes, some of them perhaps 40 million years old, have been found throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The grape is native to the north temperate zone. There are about 60 species and more than 8,000 varieties of grape. The mature fruit of most species can be eaten fresh or dried. Dried grapes are known as raisins. All varieties, when crushed, can be made into some kind of wine or juice.
Grape growing is called viticulture. This word comes from the Latin words vitis, which means “vine,” and cultus, from the verb meaning “to cultivate.” In the United States viticulture began on the East coast. The early colonists planted grapevine cuttings, or sections of branches, which they brought from Europe, but these plants did not survive. Later, American growers experimented with wild grapes. Some had success with a species known as the fox grape, the scientific name of which is Vitis labrusca.
Today, most of the grapes grown east of the Rocky Mountains come from careful development of the fox grape. About three fourths of those produced are known as Concord grapes. This variety is a plump, blue-purple grape that is commonly used in the production of jelly, jam, and juice. Two other popular varieties developed from the fox grape are the green Niagara grape and the red Catawba grape.
Of the more than two dozen species of wild grapes known in the United States, only three, besides the fox grape, have been significant in the development of grape crops. From the species that is known as the summer grape (V. aestivalis) comes the small, sweet, red Delaware grape, which is second only to the Concord grape in flavor. From the winter grape species (V. vulpina) comes the hardy, dark Clinton grape. Its fruit is small and sour, but it is a fine cooking grape. The third major species is the muscadine grape (V. rotundifolia), which is grown in the cotton belt of the South. The best-known variety of this species is the yellow-green, thick-skinned Scuppernong grape, which has a plumlike taste.
Viticulturists have developed about 1,000 varieties of grape in the United States, and new variations are constantly being added. Grapes are differentiated by their skin colors, which range from pale green or yellow to red, purple, or black. Some varieties are even multicolored.
California's viticulture began in about 1780 when Spanish missionaries brought in cuttings of the species known as the Old World grape (V. vinifera). This grape thrived in California's mild winters and long, dry growing season. Many grape varieties have been developed from the Old World grape. They are grown extensively in California and Arizona, mostly for table use or for raisin and wine production. Today, California produces about 90 percent of the commercial grape crop in the United States.
Some of the most popular table grapes grown in California are the Thompson Seedless, the Emperor, and the Flame Tokay—the “fruit salad grape.” Raisins are usually produced from the Thompson seedless variety. Major California red wine grapes include the Zinfandel and the Pinot Noir, while popular white wine grapes are the Riesling and the French Colombard.
France, Spain, and Italy cultivate the most acreage of grapes, followed by Turkey and Georgia. Other principal grape-producing countries are Algeria, Argentina, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, Romania, and the United States. Australia, Bulgaria, Chile, Germany, Syria, and South Africa also produce a large part of the world's grapes. All of these countries have sizable winemaking industries.
Viticulture is nearly as old as civilization. Details about growing grapes and making wine have been discovered in Egyptian hieroglyphics that date from about 2400 BC. Grape seeds have been found with mummies in Egyptian tombs that are at least 3,000 years old. According to the Bible, Noah planted a vineyard. Wine was also a regular part of Greek life.
Grapes can grow in many different kinds of soil, but the soil must have a certain depth and must drain well. A common method of propagation is to plant cuttings taken from mature vines. Another method is known as layering. This is done by bending down a branch of a mature vine and forcing it to grow along a shallow trench in the ground. After shoots start to grow upward from buds on the branch, the trench is filled with soil. The shoots then develop roots. By fall or winter the shoots and their roots are ready to be cut from the parent branch. In the spring they can be planted as new grapevines.
Wine is made by allowing grape juice to ferment. In fermentation certain types of yeast act on the sugars in grape juice converting them to alcohol and carbon dioxide. All grapes contain sugar in the form of glucose and fructose, the amount of which depends on the particular variety. Grapes contain minerals such as calcium and phosphorus and are a source of vitamin A.

Cherry
The delicious fruit of the cherry tree may be eaten fresh or prepared in pies, other desserts, sauces, preserves, brandies, and liqueurs. A member of the rose family, the tree has pink and white blossoms that look very much like those of the wild rose.
Several wild species of cherries are native to America, but the fruit-bearing kinds were developed in Asia and had spread into Europe in prehistoric times. The fruits belong to two main groups—sweet and sour. The Duke cherry is a hybrid of these two.
Sweet cherries grow best in a mild climate, with no extreme cold, extreme heat, or summer rainfall at the time of ripening. Popular varieties include the Black Tartarian, Bing, Lambert, Napoleon, and Royal Anne. Sour cherries thrive in moderate, rather cool climates. Among the many varieties are the Richmond, Montmorency, Morello, and Chase. Most of the crop is canned or frozen.
Genuine maraschino cherries are made from the marasca, a bitter wild cherry. Most of the maraschinos sold are imitations made from Royal Anne cherries. The fruits are soaked in vats of sulfur dioxide for six weeks. Then they are pitted, cooked with sugar, and dyed a bright red.
Wild black cherry trees are common in the eastern half of the United States and Canada. They grow along roadsides, fence rows, margins of thickets, and in open woods. Birds and other animals eat the small dark fruit and help to spread the fruit by dropping the stones, or seeds, to the ground. Black cherry trees have rough, scaly black bark and smoother, reddish brown branches. The heartwood is a rich reddish color with silky luster, prized by cabinetmakers.
Pin, or fire, cherry occurs with aspen trees on burned-over areas of Canada and the northeastern United States. Chokecherry is a shrub or small tree found throughout much of North America.
Like peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, and almonds, cherries belong to the genus Prunus of the rose family. The scientific name of the sweet cherry is P. avium; sour cherry, P. cerasus; wild black cherry, P. serotina; pin, or fire, cherry, P. pennsylvanica; and chokecherry, P. virginiana.

Pluto

Pluto was named after the god of the underworld in Greek and Roman mythology. The planet is normally the outermost in the solar system. Its orbit, however, is much more elliptical, or oval, than those of the other planets, so its distance from the sun varies considerably. At its aphelion, or greatest distance from the sun, it is about 4.53 billion miles (7.30 billion kilometers) away from the sun. About every 248 years when Pluto reaches its perihelion, or nearest point to the sun, it is within some 2.76 billion miles (4.44 billion kilometers). Pluto is then closer to the sun than Neptune is for a 20-year period, as it was in 1979–99. The two planets do not collide, however. Pluto's orbit is tilted more than any other planet's; it is inclined 17° from the ecliptic, which is an imaginary plane passing through the Earth and the sun. As Pluto nears perihelion, it is always much above or below the plane of Neptune's orbit. In addition, Pluto revolves twice around the sun in the same time that Neptune revolves three times, in a configuration such that the planets never pass each other closely.
Because of its great distance from the Earth, Pluto appears relatively faint even when viewed with a telescope. Its brightness level varies regularly by about 12 percent in a period of 6.387 days. This variation indicates that some areas of the planet's surface reflect much more light than others and that it completes one rotation on its axis every 6.387 days. Pluto's axis is tipped about 122° relative to its orbital plane, so that, like Uranus, it lies nearly on its side. Both planets spin in retrograde motion, or in the direction opposite that of most of the other planets. An observer on Pluto would see the sun rise in the west and set in the east.
Pluto's unusual physical characteristics make it difficult to classify. It is neither one of the inner, rocky planets like Earth, nor one of the outer, gaseous planets like Jupiter. Some astronomers believe that Pluto should be considered a minor planet or the largest member of the Kuiper
belt, a region of small, icy cometlike bodies beyond Neptune. In size, density, and surface composition, Pluto resembles Triton, an icy moon of Neptune, more than it does the other planets. Pluto is the smallest planet in the solar system by far. Its diameter of approximately 1,485 miles (2,390 kilometers) is less than half that of the next-smallest planet, Mercury. Several moons, including the Earth's, are larger. The planet's density of about 110 pounds per cubic foot (1,750 kilograms per cubic meter) is similar to Triton's but less than a third of the Earth's.
Because of this density value, astronomers theorize that the planet may be composed of about 50–75 percent rock, with the remainder water ice. The bright regions of Pluto's icy surface consist largely of frozen nitrogen, with some solid methane, carbon monoxide, and ethane. Little is known about the darker portions of the surface, but it is thought that they might contain organic compounds. Observations made with infrared telescopes suggest strongly that Pluto has polar caps composed of methane ice. These ice caps sometimes appear to extend halfway to Pluto's equator.
Because it is so far from the sun, the planet receives only about 1/1600 the sunlight that the Earth does, and its surface is very cold. The average surface temperature is thought to be about −373° F (−225° C), with the brighter areas generally colder than the darker ones. The temperature varies considerably along with the planet's distance from the sun. Since one year on Pluto equals about 248 Earth years, its seasons are very long. The planet's elliptical orbit makes them uneven; winter, for example, probably lasts about 100 Earth years. Pluto has a thin atmosphere, likely composed of nitrogen with smaller amounts of methane and carbon monoxide. As the planet moves away from the sun, the atmosphere freezes and falls to the surface like snow.
Pluto's eccentric orbit and its physical similarities to icy satellites originally led some astronomers to believe that Pluto did not have the same origin as the other planets. One theory suggested that Pluto and its moon, Charon, may once have been satellites of Neptune but were pulled away from Neptune's gravitational field. Most scientists, however, no longer believe this model is physically plausible. Current models suggest that Pluto and its satellite instead formed as two independent bodies in the solar nebula. Pluto may have collided with a proto-Charon, with the present satellite developing from the resulting debris.

Tulip

The tulip is a member of the lily family. By crossbreeding, florists have produced thousands of varieties. There are the single and double early tulips. There are also the taller late types, which bloom in a wide variety of bright colors.
Tulips are divided into 15 classes. In each class there may be hundreds of varieties. Three of the most common classes are Darwin tulips, triumph tulips, and cottage tulips. All three were developed in The Netherlands by hybridizing original species.
The thick leaves of the Darwin tulip grow on a short stem. The flower stalk is usually much taller. The flowers are nearly rectangular near the base. The blunt tips of the petals are slightly curved in. There are many colors of Darwin tulips. They flower in May.
The triumph tulip resembles the Darwin type but is slightly taller and blossoms about two weeks earlier. This flower too comes in various colors.
Some of the most popular tulip varieties are in the cottage class. These bloom at about the same time as the Darwins and are about the same height. Their petals, however, are not curved in. Some cottage tulips have petals that are rounded at the tip.
The tulip is a native of Asia. It was taken to Europe by way of Turkey and the Balkans. In 1960, at the first horticultural “world's fair,” called the Floriade, Rotterdam celebrated the 400th anniversary of the introduction of the tulip into The Netherlands. By 1600 the country was a center of tulip production. Now millions of bulbs are cultivated each year for export. The tulip's popularity results from its early spring bloom and its great variety of color and form.

Sun flower

When the French explorer Samuel de Champlain visited the American Indians on the eastern shore of Lake Huron some 300 years ago, he found them cultivating the common sunflower. The parts of the plant furnished the Indians with a wide variety of useful products.
The sunflower is still considered a commercially valuable plant. The leaves are used as fodder, the flowers yield a yellow dye, and the seeds provide oil and food. The plant now is cultivated in Egypt, India, Ukraine, England, and other parts of Europe for its seeds: their sweet, yellow oil is considered to be as good as olive or almond oil for table use. The oil is also used in soap, paints, and stock and poultry feed. The seeds may be eaten dried or roasted or they may be ground to make bread or a coffeelike beverage.
The sunflower is a giant among flowers. The rough, hairy stem is 3 to 12 feet (1 to 4 meters) tall; the broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves are 3 to 12 inches (8 to 30 centimeters) long; and the flower heads may be 1 foot (0.3 meter) wide in some cultivated varieties. The flower head is flat, with a brown, yellow, or purple disk framed by numerous yellow ray florets.
The name of the sunflower comes from the way the plant turns its head from east to west to follow the sun. The plant may also be named for the resemblance of its golden-rayed head to the sun. The name sunflower is generally applied to members of the genus Helianthus. The scientific name of the common sunflower is H. annuus.

Hibiscus

The largest group of plants in the mallow (Malvaceae) family is the genus  Hibiscus, which includes about 250 species of herbs, shrubs, and small trees. Some are delicate tropical blooms; others are hardy and grow almost anywhere.
Plants of the Hibiscus genus are characterized by large, showy flowers with deep-colored bases. The blossoms may be white, cream, yellow, pink, crimson, magenta, or purple-blue. Some varieties of the hibiscus change from white or yellow in the morning to pink or red in the afternoon.
Among the types cultivated in gardens are the Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus), a tall, late-flowering shrub, and the swamp rose mallow (H. moscheutos). Hybrid forms of the swamp rose mallow have been developed to yield more striking flowers.
The pods of another species (H. esculentus) are known as okra, or gumbo, and are popular as a food. A fiber plant (H. cannabinus) supplies a jute substitute. The herb roselle (H. sabdariffa) yields a fruit, similar to the cranberry, that is made into jelly or beverages. The tropical musk mallow, or abelmosk (H. moschatus), is valued for its musk-scented seeds, used in perfumes and to flavor coffee.
The origin of the word hibiscus is not certain. In Latin, the word means “marshmallow.” Some authorities on the history of flowers trace the name to the ibis, a heronlike marsh bird that is said to feed on certain species of the hibiscus.

Sea urchin

The life cycle of a sea urchin starts by spawning directly into the sea. First, the male spurts out his sperm. Then the female comes and spurts out her eggs. If the sperm and eggs touch, then a new baby sea urchin will form. After the male spurts out his sperm, more males and females come and spurt out their sperms and eggs. As a group thing there is a good chance that more baby sea urchins will form.

Sea urchins live in the mid-level or low-level of a tide pool. Sea urchins eat algae off of hard surfaces. Most of the time they eat seaweed. Sometimes they eat bits of plants and small animals. Sea urchins have hundreds of tiny, tubed feet. They have five teeth in the middle of their back side. Sea urchins use these teeth to pull, tear and rip off algae on the rocks.These teeth continue to grow throughout the sea urchin's life.

A sea urchin's size is about 4 inches and they come in many different colors. The most common are purple and light pink.

Star fish

Marine scientists have undertaken the difficult task of replacing the beloved starfish’s common name with sea star because, well, the starfish is not a fish. It’s an echinoderm, closely related to sea urchins and sand dollars.There are some 2,000 species of sea star living in all the world’s oceans, from tropical habitats to the cold seafloor. The five-arm varieties are the most common, hence their name, but species with 10, 20, and even 40 arms exist.They have bony, calcified skin, which protects them from most predators, and many wear striking colors that camouflage them or scare off potential attackers. Purely marine animals, there are no freshwater sea stars, and only a few live in brackish water.Beyond their distinctive shape, sea stars are famous for their ability to regenerate limbs, and in some cases, entire bodies. They accomplish this by housing most or all of their vital organs in their arms. Some require the central body to be intact to regenerate, but a few species can grow an entirely new sea star just from a portion of a severed limb.Most sea stars also have the remarkable ability to consume prey outside their bodies. Using tiny, suction-cupped tube feet, they pry open clams or oysters, and their sack-like cardiac stomach emerges from their mouth and oozes inside the shell. The stomach then envelops the prey to digest it, and finally withdraws back into the body.

Sponges

It would be quite a feat for a person to drink 64 glasses of water every day, but in effect that is just what some sponges do. They filter that much water through their bodies every 24 hours, absorbing oxygen from the water and feeding on waterborne food particles.
Sponges are among the most primitive multicellular animals alive. They lack specialized organs and tissues for breathing, eating, and eliminating wastes; instead, these tasks are taken care of by individual cells. Aristotle thought sponges were plants because of their appearance and lack of apparent movement. It was not until 1765, when John Ellis observed that a sponge could circulate water through itself, that the animal nature of sponges was recognized. In 1825 the Scottish naturalist R.E. Grant discovered that sponges eat tiny particles of organic matter in the circulating water, further establishing the sponges' animal characteristics. Sponges are distinct from other animals, however, and zoologists are still uncertain of the sponges' exact position within the animal kingdom.
Approximately 5,000 species of sponges have been described. They live throughout the world, from intertidal zones to depths of more than 28,000 feet (8,500 meters), and from the tropical waters of the Bahamas to the frigid Antarctic. Only about 20 species live in fresh water. Sponges live attached to the sea bottom or to a hard object. Some affix themselves by means of a single stalk, while others cover the object like moss covers a rock.
For centuries sponges have been used by humans. The ancient Greeks and Romans used sponges to pad war helmets and suits of armor. They also used them for bathing and as paintbrushes, mops, and drinking glasses. Early surgeons used soft sponges in their work. People in the Middle Ages burned sponges and used the ashes in folk medicines. In prehistoric times sponges were so abundant in some areas that their skeletal remains formed enormous deposits of flint. Arrowheads and other implements that primitive peoples made from this flint have been found.

Body and Life Cycle
Sponges have various shapes. They may be flat, mosslike growths, tall, tree-shaped structures with branching arms, or thin-walled tubes, cones, or spheres. Some are bean-sized, while others grow 3 to 6 feet (0.9 to 1.8 meters) tall. They can be rough, smooth, prickly, hard like a rock, or soft and mushy. Some are drab colored but others, mainly those that live in warm waters, may be bright yellow, red, blue, green, or violet. Some of these sponges get their colors from colored algae that live within their bodies. Carotenoid pigment is responsible for reddish hues, but chlorophyll and melanin come from algae that is living inside the sponge or that the sponge has eaten. A sponge's growth pattern is influenced by the bottom substrate, wave action, and current velocity.
The body of a sponge consists of a soft mass of living cells covered by a thin layer of hexagonal cells called pinacocytes and supported by a skeleton. The skeleton is composed either of spongin fibers (a protein material that resembles plastic), of hard, needlelike structures called spicules, or of a combination of the two. The spicules may be calcareous (made mostly of calcium carbonate) or siliceous (chiefly silicic acid). Most commercial bath sponges have spongin skeletons. Only the skeleton of the sponge is used commercially; the animal's live cells are stripped away.

Life processes.
A sponge eats and breathes by filtering water through its body. Different cells perform these life processes. Water flows through numerous pores in the sponge's skin. These pores lead into a central cavity, the spongocoel, which is lined with choanocytes, or collar cells. Each collar cell has a flagella, a tiny whiplike structure that creates a current to help draw the water through the sponge. The collar cells also capture food particles—bacteria, other microorganisms, and organic debris—and absorb oxygen from the water current. Free-moving cells called amoebocytes bring digested food and oxygen to other cells and remove waste products. The current of water with digestive and respiratory waste products then flows out of the sponge through one or more large openings called oscula. Cells called myocytes surround the oscula and can make the openings larger or smaller, or close them completely.

Reproduction.
The amoebocytes can transform into other cell types that the sponge needs, and they serve a function in reproduction. Most sponges are hermaphroditic—both male and female sex cells occur in one animal—and reproduce sexually. Sometimes the male and female cells develop at different times within the same animal, a process called dichogamy. In either case a sperm cell released by one sponge is carried by the water current to a second sponge, where it is captured by a collar cell and transported to an egg. The fertilized egg develops into a larva that is released into the water, where it may swim for three to 48 hours by means of cilia—little hairs that propel it through the water. The larva then settles, attaches itself to a firm surface, and grows into an adult sponge. Some sponges release fertilized eggs instead of larvae, and development takes place in the surrounding water.
Sponges also reproduce asexually in various ways. The best-known methods are budding and gemmulation. During budding the sponge forms branches, each of which forms its own circulatory system. The branch, which can feed itself, separates from the adult and becomes established as a separate individual. During gemmulation cells become filled with food and are isolated at the surface of the sponge. The cells are then called gemmules. The gemmules are released from the adult sponge, settle to the bottom, and grow. In freshwater sponges and some marine species, the gemmules enable the sponge to survive unfavorable conditions such as temperature extremes and polluted waters by remaining inactive until the environment improves. Sponges can also regenerate. Pieces of torn sponges, and even single cells, can grow into complete animals.

Association with other organisms.
Some organisms, or even the surface on which the sponge is attached, may be completely covered and killed by a growing sponge. However, a number of animals have mutually beneficial, or symbiotic, relationships with sponges .For example, a hermit crab living in a cast-off snail shell may find that a sponge larva has moved in with it. The larva grows into a sponge whose unpleasant odor and taste discourage the crab's predators. The crab carries the sponge when it moves from place to place, and the sponge is able to filter water from the new sites. The back of another kind of crab is always covered with a growth of sponge, which serves as camouflage.
Some animals, including fish serpent stars and some shrimps, live within sponges and do them no apparent harm. Mites, rotifers, and certain insect larvae are harmful parasites of sponges.
Sponges are eaten by some mollusks, fishes, and crustaceans but are generally protected by their spicules and unpleasant taste and smell. Some sponges are poisonous to fish, and a few cause rashes on the skin of people who touch them.

Commercial Sponges
The so-called bath sponges, or commercial sponges, are obtained mainly from the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, parts of the West Indies and Bahamas, and off the coasts of Florida and Central America. Although sponges can be cultivated by regeneration, they are usually taken from a boat by means of hooks or harpoons, or by skin divers who cut them from the sea bottom. Once out of the water, the sponge is squeezed to rid it of foreign material and is placed base down so that decaying matter can drain. The sponge is then covered with wet burlap or suspended in seawater while the soft tissues continue to decompose. Next, the sponge is rinsed in clean seawater and beaten with a stick to remove residual debris. Any remaining skin is scraped off with a dull knife, and the skeleton is left to dry. Most sponges used today, especially those for domestic use, are synthetic. However, natural sponges are still used in some arts and crafts such as pottery and painting.
The sponges constitute the phylum Porifera. They are divided into three classes according to their skeletal structure and types of spicules: Calcispongiae (calcium carbonate spicules); Hyalospongiae (siliceous spicules, no spongin); and Demospongiae (siliceous spicules, spongin fibers, or both), which include the commercial bath sponges

CORALS

Corals are small, marine animals that remain in one place throughout their adult lives and produce a hard skeleton made of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), or limestone. The skeletal material, which can be either internal or external, is also called coral. After the coral animal dies, the skeleton remains. Many species of corals grow in colonies that continue to enlarge year after year. Other species are solitary; that is, they live alone. Collectively, several different species of corals can form enormous colonies that are called coral reefs, coral islands, and coral atolls. The largest coral reef in the world, the Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia, is more than 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) long.
Corals exhibit many shapes, sizes, and colors, and reefs can look like beautiful underwater gardens. Some corals resemble the tendrils of plants; others look like leaves. The brain coral is nearly spherical and has furrows that make it look like a human brain. Sea fans are aptly named corals with flat, fan-shaped structures that spread out from a narrower base. The organ-pipe corals, which inhabit the tropical oceans of the Indo-Pacific, are typically long rigid tubes. The particular shapes and patterns of corals are characteristic for each species and are the result of the growth pattern of the millions of tiny individual animals that make up a colony. Corals can be very colorful underwater, but most species fade when they die or are removed from the water. The red coral, found in the Mediterranean Sea and in the coastal waters of Japan, does not lose its color when removed from the water, so it has been used in jewelry for centuries.

Reproduction
The adult coral, which is stationary in this stage of life, is called a polyp. Polyps reproduce in two different ways. One is by means of eggs that, when fertilized by sperm, develop into tiny, swimming larval organisms called planulae. Planulae eventually settle on the bottom of the ocean, on a rock, or on another coral and develop into polyps. Each polyp builds a limestone skeleton attached to the surface on which the polyp has landed. After the coral establishes itself, the upper part of the body becomes dome-shaped and develops a stomach and mouth. Tentacles form around the mouth and are used to draw in food from the surrounding waters. The tentacles are armed with specialized stinging structures, called nematocysts, that paralyze tiny prey. Small marine organisms are the major food of corals.
A polyp can also reproduce by a process known as budding, in which offshoots called buds grow out from the body and remain attached to it. The buds become polyps, which in turn send out more buds. In some kinds of corals the buds may break away to become separate individuals. The largest of the solitary polyps grows to a diameter of about 10 inches (25 centimeters). The polyps of the colonial species that form coral reefs range from 0.04 to 1.2 inches (0.1 to 3 centimeters) in diameter.
Vast coral colonies are built by budding, the animals being connected by their extensive skeletal network. Nutrients are passed from individuals on the outside of the colony to those on the inside.

Coral reefs
Corals live in all oceans of the world. The largest reefs are found in the warmer portions of the Pacific and Indian oceans. However, coral reefs are also found in the Caribbean and in the Gulf of Mexico as far north as southern Florida.
Reefs are composed of numerous different species of corals. More than 40 species form the large reefs of the West Indies and more than 350 species of coral have been found in the Great Barrier Reef. Corals that live in colder climates where waters fall below 70° F (21° C) for part of the year are solitary forms that do not form reefs.
Although some corals can live at depths of nearly 19,000 feet (6,000 meters), reef-building corals must live in relatively shallow ocean waters—less than 300 feet (90 meters) in depth—where light can penetrate. This is necessary because certain types of light-requiring algae known as dinoflagellates live within the tissues of the corals. The dinoflagellates are essential to the coral because the algae provide certain nutrients, particularly carbon. The algae, however, depend on the coral for nitrogen and phosphorus
A coral-reef lagoon surrounds Raiatea and Tahaa, two islands in the Society group, in the central …
There are three kinds of coral reefs—barrier reefs, fringing reefs, and atolls. Barrier reefs lie parallel to the coastline but may be some distance from it. The reef and the land are separated by a shallow lagoon. The lagoon between the Great Barrier Reef and the northeastern coast of Australia varies from 10 to 100 miles (16 to 160 kilometers) in width. Most of a coral reef is submerged, but some parts may be above the ocean's surface forming small islands that may support vegetation and animal life.
Fringing reefs also follow the coastline, but they extend up to the beach at some points. Atolls have no relationship to any visible land. They are circular in form, surrounding a central lagoon of calm water. Atolls are often associated with the rims of extinct underwater volcanoes. Bikini in the South Pacific is a well-known atoll that was used in nuclear weapons testing by the United States.
Coral reefs create underwater habitats that are essential for many species of marine organisms. Certain species of fish spend their life among the corals, using them as a refuge from predators.
Because of the permanence of their skeletons, corals are common in the fossil record, the remains of long-dead plants and animals. More than 6,000 extinct species of corals have been described. Corals belong to the phylum Coelenterata (also called Cnidaria) and are related to jellyfishes. Most species are in the class Anthozoa. The class has more than 6,000 living species, including the sea cucumbers, sea anemones, and sea pansies, which are not corals. A few corals are in the class Hydrozoa.
By the 1990s coral reefs off the coasts of more than 20 countries were being ravaged by coral bleaching, pollution, freighter traffic, and the venomous, coral-eating starfish known as the crown of thorns. Bleaching is thought to be caused by rising water temperatures, which the coral cannot withstand. Oil spills and chemical pollution are a major threat to coral. Long-term damage occurs when stands of coral are knocked down by freighters or boat anchors. Overharvesting of fish has resulted in the loss of coral-protecting sea urchins, leaving the coral open to the crown of thorns.

INDIA
About one sixth of all the human beings on Earth live in India, the world's most populous democracy. Its borders encompass a vast variety of peoples, practicing most of the world's major religions, speaking scores of different languages, and divided into thousands of socially exclusive castes. A civilized, urban society has existed in India for well over 4,000 years, and there have been periods when its culture was as brilliant and creative as any in history. The country is also known by its ancient Hindi name, Bharat.
India's leaders have played a prominent role in world affairs since the country became independent in 1947. Nevertheless, the standard of living of most of its citizens is low. The huge population strains the nation's limited resources. Fertile, cultivable land is scarce, yet about two thirds of the people depend directly on agriculture for their livelihood. Many millions of Indians are inadequately nourished, poorly housed, and lacking in basic educational, medical, and sanitary services.
Although the modern nation of India encompasses the greater part of South Asia, it is smaller than the Indian Empire formerly ruled by Britan. Burma, a mainly Buddhist country lying to the east, was administratively detached from India in 1937. Ten years later, when Britain granted independence to the peoples of the Indian subcontinent, two regions with Muslim majorities—a large one in the northwest (West Pakistan) and a smaller one in the northeast (East Pakistan)—were partitioned from the predominantly Hindu areas and became the separate nation of Pakisthan. East Pakistan broke away from Pakistan in 1971 to form the independent nation of Bangladesh. Also bordering India on its long northern frontier are the People's Republic of China and the relatively small kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan. The island republic of Sri Lanka lies just off India's southern tip. India's capital is New Delhi
Land and Natural Resources
Much of India's area of almost 1.3 million square miles (3.3 million square kilometers—including the parts of Kashmir occupied by Pakistan or China) is a peninsula jutting into the Indian Ocean between the Arabian Sea on the west and the Bay of Bengal on the east. There are three distinct physiographic regions. In the north the high peaks of the Himalayas lie partly in India but mostly just beyond its borders in Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet. South of the mountains, the low-lying Indo-Gangetic Plain, shared with Pakistan and Bangladesh, extends more than 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal. Finally, the peninsular tableland, largely the Deccan, together with its adjacent coastal plains, makes up more than half of the nation's area.
The Himalayas
The northern mountain wall consists of three parallel ranges. The highest of these ranges is the Greater Himalayas, which include several peaks that rise above 25,000 feet (7,600 meters). Even the passes through these mountains are farther above sea level than the highest summits of the Alps. India has the world's largest area under snow and glaciers outside the polar regions.
Lower mountain ranges branch off from both ends of the Himalayan system, running along the border with Myanmar toward the Bay of Bengal in the east and—mainly through Pakistan—toward the Arabian Sea in the west. Thus, the low-lying country to the south is relatively isolated from the rest of Asia. This accounts for its recognition as a subcontinent.

The Indo-Gangetic Plain
The Indo-Gangetic Plain, with an area of about 270,000 square miles (700,000 square kilometers), varies in width by several hundred miles. It is the world's most extensive tract of uninterrupted alluvium. These deep, river-deposited sediments give rise to fertile soils. In addition, they are rich in groundwater for well irrigation. The flat terrain also makes the area ideal for canal irrigation.
The greater part of the Indo-Gangetic Plain is drained by the Ganges River, which rises in the southern Himalayas and flows in a generally south to southeast direction to the Bay of Bengal. Its principal tributary, the Yamuna, or Jumna, flows past New Delhi, the capital of India, to join the Ganges near Allahabad. North of Goalundo Ghat in Bangladesh, the Ganges is joined by the Brahmaputra). The Indus and its tributaries drain the western and southwestern parts of the plain. The northern part of this area, now divided between India and Pakistan, is traditionally known as the Punjab, or Land of the Five Rivers, for the five major tributaries of the Indus—the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas).

The Deccan
The so-called tableland of India is actually a more complex landform region than that word suggests. Most of the 735,000 square miles (1.9 million square kilometers) of the Deccan are relatively flat, with elevations ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 feet (300 to 600 meters) above sea level. However, the terrain also includes numerous ranges of hills, as well as several long, prominent escarpments. Anai Mudi (8,842 feet, 2,695 meters), in the Southern Ghats, is the highest peak in peninsular India.
The coastal plains flanking the Deccan are relatively narrow, ranging from 6 to 80 miles (10 to 130 kilometers). The eastern plain is drained by several large deltas, including, from north to south, those of the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri rivers.
India is rich in nonenergy mineral resources and moderately well endowed with coal, but it is poor in proven reserves of petroleum and natural gas. The principal mineral deposits lie south of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Foremost among mineral-rich regions is the Chota Nagpur Plateau. This area contains India's main coal deposits as well as large quantities of high-grade iron ore, copper, bauxite, limestone, mica, and chromite. At more than 100 billion tons, the country's coal reserves are the fifth largest in the world. However, most of the coal is of poor quality because of its high ash and moisture content. Proven on-land petroleum reserves are insufficient to meet current demand. There has been some success with offshore exploration. Many of India's rivers are potential sources of hydroelectric power.
Climate
In general, India's climate is governed by the monsoon, or seasonal, rain-bearing wind. Most of the country has three seasons: hot, wet, and cool. During the hot season, which usually lasts from early March to mid-June, very high temperatures are accompanied by intermittent winds and occasional dust storms.
Strong, humid winds from the southwest and south usually bringing very heavy rains that fall almost daily in the middle or late afternoon—the “burst of the monsoon”—herald the start of the wet season. It may begin as early as late May in the south. Eventually, the rains taper off, and by late October cool, dry, northerly air has replaced the humid marine air over all of India except the southeastern third of the peninsula. This “retreat of the monsoon” marks the start of the cool season.
Average annual precipitation varies widely. Cherrapunji in the Shillong Plateau just north of Bangladesh receives 450 inches (1,143 centimeters), making it the second rainiest place on Earth, after Mount Waialeale in Hawaii (460 inches, 1,168 centimeters). At the other extreme, the western Thar Desert averages only 4 inches (10 centimeters). In the driest parts of India, however, the rainfall is highly variable.
Temperature varies as does rainfall in different parts of India. Hill stations in the Himalayan region, such as Darjeeling and Simla, record the lowest temperatures, with annual averages of between about 54° and 57°  F (12° and 14°  C). In the Indo-Gangetic Plain, Delhi and Allahabad register an average of 79°  F (26°  C).
Plant and Animal Life
Most of the far northeast (north and east of Bangladesh), northern West Bengal, and the west coast from Cochin to somewhat north of Bombay (Mumbai) get more than 80 inches (200 centimeters) of rainfall annually. This is usually enough to keep the soil moist throughout the year. The natural vegetation associated with these regions is an exceedingly varied, broadleaf, evergreen rain forest, typically tall and dense. Much of the rain forest, however, is in hilly regions that have been repeatedly burned over and cleared for slash-and-burn agriculture, a type of farming particularly associated with India's tribal population. As a result, the soil has become less fertile. Where the forest has grown again, it is generally lower and less open than the original vegetation.
Areas with from 40 to 80 inches (100 to 200 centimeters) of rainfall (enough to grow at least one crop of rice) include almost the whole northeastern peninsular region, the eastern Gangetic Plain, a narrow belt on the plains and hills just south of the Himalayas as far west as Kashmir, another belt just east of the crest of the Western Ghats, and most of the southeastern, or Coromandel, coast. In these areas, as average rainfall declines the forests become progressively shorter, less dense, and less varied.
In addition, as rainfall declines from 80 to 60 inches (200 to 150 centimeters) evergreens gradually give way to deciduous species, which in these regions lose their leaves during the cool, dry season. Where government protection from slash-and-burn agriculture has kept forests intact, they include good stands of teak, sal, and other excellent timber species.
Most of the rest of India averages from 20 to 40 inches (50 to 100 centimeters), enough to grow one crop of grain other than rice. The natural vegetation consists of low, open forests, intermixed with thorny shrubs and grasses. Little of the original vegetative cover remains.
A wide variety of distinctive vegetation types occurs as a result of special ecological conditions. Tall grass savannas, with scattered acacias, grow on the moist soils of the Terai, the fringe of plains bordering the northern mountains. Mangrove forests are found in the brackish deltas of the east coast, and many types of palms grow in sandy or salty soils. Often impenetrable stands of bamboo sprout up in fields formerly given over to slash-and-burn cultivation.
The alterations in India's vegetation over the centuries have brought about many changes in the animal life. Today the dominant forms are cattle, goats, buffalo, sheep, and, in the drier regions, camels. While cattle are essential to the nation's economy, there is a religious taboo against their slaughter.
In the forests and the high, rugged areas where wild species are still dominant, the array of animals remains rich. Among large mammals are the Indian elephant, still regularly rounded up and domesticated in several areas; the rhinoceros, living almost exclusively in game sanctuaries; over a dozen species of deer and antelope; and wild cattle, sheep, goats, and boars.
Carnivores, or meat eaters, include tigers and leopards; lions, once wide-ranging but now confined to the Gir Forest on the Kathiawar Peninsula; the nearly extinct cheetah; and a variety of bears. Monkeys, especially langurs and rhesuses, are common even in cities. The cobra is the best-known reptile. Three species of crocodiles are found. There are about 1,200 species of birds, among them vultures, parrots, mynas, quail, and bustards.
The Struggle for Independence
During World War I Indian troops served the British loyally, but nationalist agitation increased afterward. The British Parliament passed a reform act in 1919, providing for provincial councils of Indians with some powers of supervision over agriculture, education, and public health. Far from satisfied, the extreme nationalists, led by Mohandas K. Gandhi, gained control of the Congress. Gandhi preached resistance to the British by “noncooperation”. Hundreds of thousands joined his civil disobedience campaigns. The Congress party quickly gained a mass following.
Rioting broke out when Parliament placed no Indians on the Simon Commission, appointed in 1927 to investigate the government of India. The British imprisoned Gandhi and his associates. In 1929 Jawaharlal Nehru was elected president of the Congress. Like Gandhi, Nehru was passionately devoted to the cause of freedom. He had absorbed Western ideas at Harrow and Cambridge, however, and, unlike Gandhi, wanted to bring modern technology and industrialization to India.
After three “round-table” conferences in London had considered the commission's report, Parliament passed a new Government of India Act in 1935. It provided for elected legislatures in the provinces, but property and educational requirements restricted the number of voters to about 14 percent of the population. To protect the interests of minorities, voting was by communal groups. Upper-caste Hindus, Untouchables, Muslims, Sikhs, and others voted for their own candidates. The system perpetuated religious strife. Mohammed Ali Jinnah, leader of the Muslim League, charged that Congress ministries mistreated their Muslim minorities. He agitated for the separation of the Muslim provinces from India and the creation of a state called Pakistan, which means “country of the pure.”
When World War II broke out, the Congress demanded complete and immediate freedom for India as the price for India's active participation. In 1942 Sir Stafford Cripps went to India with a plan for granting dominion status after the war, but Indian leaders could not agree on the terms. The Congress insisted on a unified India. The Muslim League demanded a separate Pakistan. The princes were determined to preserve their states.
The Japanese invaded northeast India from Burma with a small force in the spring of 1944. It was quickly driven out. In spite of opposition to British rule, India raised a volunteer army of nearly 2.5 million. Its industries expanded greatly to supply arms and other goods for the war effort.
Birth of the New Nations
British India in 1947, showing major administrative divisions, the distribution of the principal …
In February 1947 the British government announced that it would leave India not later than June 1948. Muslim threats of civil war then forced the Hindu leaders to agree to the establishment of the separate state of Pakistan. The British Parliament rushed through the Indian Independence Act in July. On Aug. 15, 1947, the Indian Empire came to an end.
The two new dominions—India and Pakistan—had complete self-rule. Though they remained in the Commonwealth, they were free to withdraw. India took over the Indian Empire's membership in the United Nations. Jinnah became the first governor-general of Pakistan. Nehru, a moderate socialist, took office as India's first prime minister.
The boundaries between India and Pakistan were drawn so as to separate Muslims from Hindus and Sikhs. The Punjab, Bengal, and Assam were split in two. Yet some 38 million Muslims remained in India and about 19 million Hindus and more than 1.5 million Sikhs were left in Pakistan. Rioting broke out. Millions poured across the borders to the country of their own faith. Hundreds of thousands were massacred or died of other causes while migrating. Hundreds of villages were burned in communal strife.
On Jan. 30, 1948, Gandhi was assassinated by a fanatical member of a militant Hindu group that disapproved of his efforts toward reconciliation. Hindus and Muslims alike mourned his death. The Indian government immediately acted against the extremist group, and violence subsided. In 1950 the two nations agreed to protect their religious minorities. By 1951 about 7.2 million Hindus and Sikhs had fled from Pakistan into India and 7.4 million Indian Muslims had entered Pakistan. Additional millions crossed later. Religious strife and violence persisted for decades, however, in spite of these migrations.
Status of Princely States and Foreign Areas
The Indian Independence Act applied only to the provinces of British India. The 562 native states were left outside both dominions. A few joined Pakistan. The rest were brought into India. Hyderabad, the largest princely state, insisted on remaining independent. India sent in troops, and in November 1948 it became a part of .

Raghuvir temples, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir state, India
Both India and Pakistan coveted Jammu and Kashmir, a large princely state in the far north. When troops entered the state from Pakistan, the ruler of Kashmir joined his state to India and asked for India's help. For 14 months the two countries waged an undeclared war in Kashmir. The fighting ended on Jan. 1, 1949, when both agreed to permit the United Nations to hold a plebiscite in the state. It was never held. India and Kashmir announced in 1957 that Kashmir's accession to India was permanent, but it was not recognized by the United Nations. Part of it remains occupied by Pakistan. When Britain withdrew from India, Portugal ruled Goa and several other territories on India's west coast with a total area of 1,472 square miles (3,813 square kilometers). France held Pondicherry and a number of other small areas totaling 196 square miles (508 square kilometers). Between 1950 and 1954 France's colonies were merged with India. The Portuguese possessions were seized by India in 1961.

The one-celled organisms called bacteria live on, in, and around most living and nonliving things. Most bacteria can be seen only with the aid of a microscope, and millions of them would fit on the head of a pin.
Although some bacteria are harmful, many bacterial species are beneficial. Bacteria that live in the intestines of humans are essential in digesting food. Other species play a role in fermentation, a process that produces foods such as yogurt and cheese. Bacteria themselves are vulnerable to infection by viruses called bacteriophages.
The study of bacteria is called bacteriology. It often is integrated with studies of other microorganisms, or microbes, a diverse group that includes fungi, algae, and protozoa. These combined studies are called microbiology. (See also microbiolo
Respiration
Some bacteria species cannot tolerate exposure to oxygen. These bacteria are called anaerobes; they occupy a variety of habitats, such as soil and hot springs. Many are part of the normal flora (microbes) living inside the gastrointestinal tract and mouth. Treponema denticola, which lives in dental plaque, is a good example. Bacteria that require oxygen are called aerobes. Bordetella pertussis, which causes whooping cough, is in this group. Bacteria that can live with or without air are called facultative anaerobes. Some, such as Escherichia coli, are part of the normal body flora. Other facultative anaerobes, such as Salmonella and Shigella, are pathogenic.

Locomotion
Many bacteria are able to move through liquids by means of taillike appendages called flagella, or tiny hairlike structures called cilia. Other species cannot move on their own, but are carried about on animals or insects, or through the air on dust.

Spore Formation
Several groups of bacteria can form structures called endospores, or spores. The spore is a resting stage that enables the organism to endure adverse conditions. When conditions improve, the spores transform into active bacteria. Some spores, such as those that cause the diseases anthrax, botulism, and tetanus, can withstand extremely harsh conditions, including boiling water, extreme cold, and exposure to many chemical disinfectants, over long periods of time.

Reproduction
Most bacteria reproduce asexually by dividing in the middle to form two cells, a process called binary fission. These two new cells grow and then each divides to form two new cells. Thus four cells with identical DNA will have resulted from a single parent cell. Some species divide only every 16 hours or more. In the fastest growing bacteria, however, fission may occur as often as every 15 minutes, producing billions of bacteria with identical DNA within 24 hours.
Some bacteria exchange genetic material before undergoing fission. In these species, a tubelike structure extends between two bacterial cells. The donor transfers portions of its DNA to the recipient. This allows bacteria to transmit certain genetic traits, such as drug resistance, to other bacteria in their population. (See also antibiotic; reproductive system.)

Significance in Nature
The decomposition of organic (substances that contain carbon) material in nature is brought about chiefly by vast numbers of saprophytic bacteria, though certain fungi contribute to the process. If there were no decay, the remains of dead organisms and the waste of cities would accumulate so fast that they would soon interfere with everyday life. As saprophytes break down organic matter, such as rotting leaves and dead insects, they enrich the soil by returning minerals and nutrients to it. Carbon dioxide, a by-product of decomposition, is released into the air for plants to use in photosynthesis. (See also photosynthesis.)
Although plants need nitrogen to grow, and nitrogen is abundant in the air, green plants cannot use it in its gaseous form. Several kinds of bacteria can take nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it into a form that is usable by plants, a process called nitrogen fixation. Some nitrogen-fixing bacteria, such as Rhizobium, live in a mutualistic relationship with plants such as legumes (peas and beans) by forming nodules on the plant's roots (see symbiosis). Free-living nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria, such as Azotobacter, release fixed nitrogen into the soil, where it is taken up by the plant's roots.gy.)

Phylum Arthropoda - Characteristics
1. EXOSKELETON In most arthropods the body is covered with chitonous cuticle that is hardened into an exoskeleton. In crustacea and millipedes, the cuticle is hardened by the addition of calcium; in insects, the cuticle is tanned, chemically bonded with protein. Once the cuticle is hardened it can not increase in size. Some regions of the cuticle remain unhardened to allow flexibility and movement.
2. METAMERISM
Body composed of numerous segments (somites), segmented condition may be concealed. In the primitive Arthropod, the body was thought to be a series of metameres, each, except for the first and last, with a pair of appendages. Metamerism is an example of an important biological trait, that of replication and modification to develop new traits and capabilities.
3. JOINTED APPENDAGES Jointed appendages give arthropods numerous, generalized appendages which were modified into numerous specialized organs for walking, grasping, and eating.
4. DOUBLE VENTRAL NERVE COR Ventral nerve cord with ganglia(swellings) at each segment. Only the brain (most anterior) ganglia is above the digestive system.

THE NATURE OF GOLD
The chemical element gold is a heavy, soft metal. Volume for volume, it weighs nearly twice as much as lead. Its hardness varies between 21/2 and 3 on the Mohs' scale . Shiny and deep yellow in color, gold is one of two metals which are not gray or white when pure. (The other is copper.)

Physical Characteristics
Gold is the most malleable and ductile of metals. It may be beaten into gold leaf as thin as 4 millionths of an inch. An ounce of gold may be drawn into a wire more than 40 miles long. Gold is a good conductor of electricity, though it is inferior to silver and Gold mixes, or alloys, readily with other metals. Alloys of gold and silver are soft, malleable, and ductile. Copper is commonly added to harden gold
Atomic and Chemical Properties
In its usual state—atomic mass number 197—gold is stable. However, there are radioactive (unstable) isotopes of mass numbers 186 to 196 and 198 to 203 . Gold normally exhibits a chemical valence of one or three.
Gold is the “noblest” of the noble metals (gold, platinum, palladium, and rhodium), so termed because of their inertness, or reluctance to enter into chemical reactions. Gold will not react with common acids but is attacked by a three-to-one mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids. This combination is called aqua regia (from the Latin for royal water) because it reacts with the so-called royal metal.
Gold will not combine directly with oxygen, but oxides may be formed indirectly. Gold will also combine with the halogens (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine) and with the cyanides .The purity of gold is expressed in karats (abbreviated “kt”), on a scale of 24, or in fineness, on a scale of 1,000. Pure gold is 24 karat, or 1,000 fine. An alloy containing 75 percent gold would be described as 18-karat gold, or 750 fine.
The weight of gold is ordinarily expressed in troy ounces of 480 grains. In this article the word ounce means troy ounce. Avoirdupois weight is meant where pounds and tons are mentioned unless other units are specified

THE USES OF GOLD
Eternally attractive to mankind, gold has found its principal use as a store of value. Its beauty has made it popular in decoration. Gold has also become an increasingly important industrial metal.
Because of its rarity and its durability, gold tended to remain relatively stable in value and thus almost universally acceptable as money. In the past the metal was widely used in coins. Until 1934 gold coins could circulate in the United States. They were withdrawn from circulation when a worldwide economic depression forced devaluation of the dollar . For 100 years before 1934, the United States had valued gold at $20.67 per fine troy ounce. In 1934 the price was increased to $35, in 1972 to $38, and in 1973 to $42.22.
With the last devaluation of the dollar, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reset the exchange rate for gold at $42.22 per ounce. It was then selling for about $65 on the free market. The IMF abolished the “official” price of gold effective April 1978, and by year-end its value rose to $226.37. The market price more than doubled in one year. By mid-January 1980 gold was sold at a record high of $880. Since then the price of gold has slowly declined.

Flowering dreams

Flowing from mountain range

Finding simply kindly life

Where can I find my dreams?

Where will I have to go?

In my way for my dreams

I can find a different land

Leading simply kindly life

As a nature people live

So simple in brightest life

No worry in dimmest time

Helping others for a love

Worship god for a good

What kindly people were?

Ican't find such a land

My rings murmmered that

For them the world exist