84 THOUGHTS ON ANIMALCULES. 



three or four years hence, many of the individuals at 

 this moment sporting through the water will be re- 

 suscitated and appear in full activity, although, had they 

 remained in their native element, the term of their ex- 

 istence would have extended but through a few days, — 

 thus realising one of the beautiful fictions of Arabian 

 story; would not this statement be deemed unworthy 

 of belief? would it not be regarded as improbable and 

 as extravagant, as the wildest chimeras of the imagina^ 

 tion? And yet such a narrative would be but the 

 simple truth ; an unexaggerated, unadorned, matter-of- 

 fact summary, of the phenomena that have come under 

 our observation! 



