Then it is, after these long hours engaged in his 

 labor of love, livelihood, or science, he seeks relief 

 in play; then it is, he turns for amusement to his 

 microscope. The microscope then ceases to be an 

 instrument of research; it becomes a toy, an imag- 

 inary means of transport whereupon he rides to 

 revel in a fairyland. But his is a fairyland of reali- 

 ties. It is a veritable playground peopled with 

 forms more fantastic than are found in any ex- 

 travagancies of fiction. It is the scene of a gor- 

 geous pageantry in which the paraders are re- 

 viewed in fact, and not in fancy, as ogres, hob- 

 goblins, pretty patterned masqueraders, and living 

 jewels of the sea. 



To-night, such a situation is at hand. I am deter- 

 mined to abandon serious work for the present, 

 and to find some leisure in the mystic microcosm 

 just mentioned. But I shall share my pastime with 

 the reader, so that he, too, may find relief; it will, 

 therefore give us both a rest from the more exact- 

 ing subtleties of natural science. 



What shall I look at first? . . . Beside me 

 stands a case of shallow drawers containing hun- 

 dreds of classified prepared microscope slides. The 

 variety of subjects is almost endless; they range 



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