46 DROPS OF WATER. 



be stated, that naturalists have some difficulty, in 

 many cases, in determining whether the minute 

 object under examination belongs to the animal 

 or vegetable world. This appears very extraor- 

 dinary, but when the following details have been 

 read, and it is found that what seemed to be a 

 plant, has within it certain granules which, when 

 discharged, act like living beings, swimming 

 about, having all the movements of animals, yet 

 at last fixing themselves to a substance, and 

 after a time assuming the appearance again of 

 vegetation, it will be acknowledged that the sub- 

 ject is one of extreme difficulty. Professor Rymer 

 Jones remarks, that the physiologist has many 

 difficulties, " who endeavours to draw the boundary 

 between these two great kingdoms of nature ; for 



