29 



whenever the interniediutii, in which they are imbedded, is sufficiently 

 thin or dissolved. Thus, in the cuticle of the Alligator, dried for 

 many years, the infusoria were found abundant in all parts which 

 were sufficiently transparent for examination, and, of course, rigid, 

 but on triturating this lamina with a drop of water on a glass, the 

 intlisoria were set free and became active : so of many other sub- 

 stances. The bodies of the infusoria of authors, afford some excellent 

 examples of this, owing to the great transparency of the former. If a 

 portion of the body or limbs be selected, and be sufficiently thin, the 

 solar infusoria will be distinct, and if the cohesion be sufficiently dimi- 

 nished, active, even while the animal which they help to constitute is yet 

 alive. But if the animal be disintegrated, then the solar infusoria all 

 become active. The infusoria of authors, are generally quite moist 

 enough to allow this action, as soon as they are triturated or broken up. 

 Could shells, and the like, in which they abound, be broken up, pulver- 

 ised, and dissolved completely, these animals would, no doubt, become 

 active immediately, as I have always found them to be when so treated. 



A drop of blood, black vomit, milk, or the juice of ben'ies, will afford 

 a most satisfactory view if it be spread out sufficiently thin — a drop may 

 be regarded as a "great globe," flattened, it may be, in which these 

 infusoria swim, one greatly above another, each having a dilTerent focal 

 point corresponding to its position. 



The solar infusoria move without ceasing, so long as the intermedium 

 will permit. As the cohesion of the latter augments, the motions of the 

 former diminish. Their motions are serpentine, presenting only a few 

 curves. They do not possess the pov»^er to stem a strong current. They 

 are types of perpetual motion, and of immortality — always moving, all 

 being alike, and all apparently incapable of dying. Desiccation appears 

 to be their hvbernatino; condition. 



The second general microscopic element, which the direct, concen- 

 trated solar spectrum discloses, is a spheroidal body, remarkable for its 

 luminosity. These spheroids are numerous, and have nearly the same 

 appearance in all substances. They possess no power of locomotion, or 

 other indications of life, unless, perhaps, in a few cases. I have seen, 

 several times, numerous spheroids of a similar size, which travelled in 

 various directions, in a voluntary manner, like ants, with, sometimes, a 

 rotatorv motion. 



The third element, in this solar analysis, is the most abundant of all, 

 and maybe called the intermedium, and is both solid and liquid in differ- 

 ent substances, both in the natural and artificial states, appearing to be 

 as structureless as water. It serves as a menstruum, bed or cement to 

 the other two elements. It is rarely, perhaps never, as transparent as 

 water. If it he liquid, desiccation will very generally cause fissures, like 

 those of the Mississippi alluvion, after the subsidence of the water, 

 during the action of the sun and wind. It seems to be homogenous, and 

 has, with respect to light, various degrees of absorptive and transmissive 

 power. 



Whenever the cohesion of the intermedium is sufficiently overcome 

 by the solvent action of water, or by the disentegration of the tissues, 

 of which the infusoria farm a component part, the latter invariably pass 

 from a state of rest or sleep to that of perpetual activity. When the 



