MICROSCOPIC OBJECTS. 39 



and stage coaches were subsequently introduced. After paying a 

 just tribute to the skill and industry of Me. Adam, and making 

 some observations on our improved race of coachmen, the lecturer 

 concluded his paper to the following effect: 



What benefits may not literature derive by the more speedy and 

 facile communication with all those parts of the world where civil- 

 ization has, in former periods of its history, flourished and decayed, 

 but the languages of whose people, the remains of their edifices, the 

 preservation of their customs, and the prevalence of their manners, 

 are all pages that fill up the great history of our globe, and of all 

 that has gone before us. 



What advantages may not science derive from the greater ability 

 to pursue her enquiries in an expanded field, not limited to one 

 confined portion of the earth for its observations, nor circumscribed 

 to one degree of climate, and so far, therefore, extending the range 

 of observation, the contraction of which is ever disadvantageous to 

 the scientific engineer, who endeavours to develope the laws of na- 

 ture, designed as they are to act on and influence immense spaces, 

 whilst the enquirer's observations are confined to a narrow limit. 



MICROSCOPIC OBJECTS. 



THE ignition of lime by the flame of an oxyhydro- 

 gen blow pipe, produces so intense a light that it has 

 been applied with success as a substitute for the solar 

 rays in illuminating the transparent microscope, and to 

 such perfection has this instrument been brought, that 

 the image of a flea is now shown in the metropolis 

 equivalent in dimensions to a decently-sized camel. 



The microscope is admirably adapted for displaying 

 to youth how much inferior to the delicate operations 

 of nature are the most elaborately finished works of 

 art : by its aid we find that the minutest beings share 

 in the protection, and triumph in the bounty, of the 

 Sovereign of all things : that the infinitely small man- 

 ifest to the astonished eye the same proportion, regu- 

 larity and design, which are conspicuous to the unassist- 

 ed sight in the larger parts of creation. By finding 

 all things formed in beauty, and produced for use, the 

 mind is raised from the fleeting and evanescent appear- 



