THE INVISIBLE WORLD REVEALEDo 



11. 



THE INVISIBLE V^ORLD REVEALED BY THE 

 MICROSCOPE. 



But a fact not less startling than would be the 

 realisation of the imaginings of Shakespear and of Mil- 

 ton, or of the speculations of Locke and of Bacon, 

 admits of easy demonstration, namely, that the air, the 

 earth, and the waters teem with numberless myriads of 

 creatures, which are as unknown and as unapproachable 

 to the great mass of mankind, as are the inliabitants of 

 another planet. It may, indeed, be questioned, whether, 

 if the telescope could bring within the reach of our 

 observation the living things that dwell in the worlds 

 around us, life would be there displayed in forms more 

 diversified, in organisms more marvellous, under con- 

 ditions more unhke those in wliich animal existence 

 appears to our unassisted senses, than may be dis- 

 covered " in the leaves of every forest, in the flowers of 

 every garden, in the waters oi every rivulet," by that 

 noblest instrument of natural philosophy, the Micro- 

 scope. 



