170 NATURAL HISTORY RECREATIONS. 



A line, is the tenth part of an inch, so tliat these animals are 2000 limes 

 smaller than this — . Can you conceive that? Of course, they must 

 be magnified several hundred limes to be seen at all. Under my glass, 

 magnified about 300 times across, they appear about the size of the pe- 

 riod which closes this sentence. Some persons may think this all fic- 

 tion, but let them call at my study any day or night, and I will convince 

 them. Seeing is believing. They are developed in all decomposing 

 substances, and it is they which occasion the cloudiness of all liquids 

 in which animal or vegetable matter is infused. Some of this family are 

 destitute of all processes, i. e., appendages ; others, have ciliae or hairs, 

 and others have feet like processes. Some are globular, some oblong, 

 and others change their shape. They multiply by division or separation. 

 You can see this process under the microscope. The old animal gets 

 a furrow through it, which becomes deeper, until it divides in two, and 

 then these are two perfect animals. This separation is going on con- 

 stantly, and requires only about an hour's time, so you may have an 

 idea of the number of them. Does it not seem queer to talk of the 

 depth of a furrow in an animal that is more than one hundred times 

 thinner than this paper! 



The Monads (Monds) are the smallest yet discovered. They are 

 mere globules without tail and eyes, and swim very rapidly through the 

 water. Immediately behind the mouth there are from two to six stom- 

 achs, which when filled with coloring matter, still do not embrace half 

 of the animal. If you calculate the size of the smallest Monad at 

 ~\\^o of ^ line, then these little stomachs would be only g^'^^ of a line 

 and some of them from 6 to 12000 times smaller ! ! ! The smaller spe- 

 cies M. Terms is 2000 times smaller than this — and you may try to con- 

 ceive how many of them could be contained in a single drop of water — 

 •5000 million is the number calculated. They are developed in infu- 

 sions of various kinds. Whence do they come .' How are they 

 generated .'' The atmosphere is essential to their development, and 

 hence you may say that their eggs are floating about through the air 

 and accidentally fall into the water. In that case, the air must be so 

 densely crowded with the eggs of many hundred species of infusoria 

 and thousands of millions of specimens, that it would be rendered ob- 

 scure, and ti-ilh every inhalation, we would take millions into our lungs, 

 •whence they would be mingled with the blood. They would be devel- 

 oped there, and what would be the consequence ? We should be in- 

 wardly consumed with infusoria. 



The dusk like Monad (Enchely puhisculus) is oval and green, and 

 is found in the green slime attaching to wood or stones in ditches. — 



