18 THE ROTIFEKA. 



not those hn<]:e animals, on eartli as well as in sea, wlio can scarcely drag the 

 weight of their frames — not these alone declare the glory of the Almighty. No ! the 

 smallest also show, just as distmctly, the perfections of their Creator. Yea ! one may 

 say, these even more than those ! A great chm-ch clock is certainly a wonderful machine, 

 but a pocket watch — aw'atch in a ring — is yet more so, and conduces to the greater fame 

 and glory of its maker." 



His description of his chief discovery, that of his CroT\Ti Polj^) {Stephanoceros 

 Eichhornii) is very amusing. "I found," he says, " this extraordinary and marvellously 

 formed animal first in 1761, on .July 20, on a water plant, which had been standing some 

 weeks m water. I saw that there was something on the plant which was quite unknown 

 to me. I moved the glass, in order to see if it was something alive, and if it would draw 

 itself together, which happened, to my delight ; therefore I examined it through a lens, 

 but it appeared to me, through this, just like an orange flower which was not yet closed, 

 but which now drew itself together, and now outspread itself. All this stirred up m me 

 a great desire to see this new animal under the glass, but that required skill to get it 

 out, as the glass vessel in which it was, was nearly an ell high, and this animal was right 

 at the bottom. I tried first with the quill of a feather to brmg it to the top, but it was 

 continually lost to the eye by shutting itself up. At last I succeeded with a little wire 

 hook in di'awuig out the plant on which it obviously was, and as soon as I could reach 

 it with the scissors I snipped off a tiny stem, and that brought me out the whole animal 

 unharmed. I placed it at once under the magnifying glass, and saw this matchless 

 creature as it is shown in the engraving." ' \Vhat a pleasant picture this is of the 

 gi'ave pastor fishing away with a quill pen to fetch up Stephanoceros fi'om the bottom of 

 a glass beaker a yard and a quarter high ! 



About the same time as Eiclihorn, flourished the great Danish naturalist, OTHO 

 FREDERIC MtJLLER. He was an excellent botanist and zoologist, and published 

 works OH many subjects. He wrote on the Flora and Fauna of Denmark, on Fungi, on the 

 Hydrachnaj, and on Fresh-water and Marine Woi'ms ; but his chief delight was in the 

 Infusoria, and his posthumous work, " Animalcula Infusoria Fluviatilia et Marina, &c." 

 178G, was the first that brought this new kingdom to the knowledge of the naturalist. 



The "Animalcula Infusoria" contains the descriptions and figures of about fifty 

 Eotifera, among which are Lacinidaria, Hydatina, Scaridium, Triarthra, Brachionus, 

 Anurcea, Pterodina, Euchlaiiis, Dinocharis, Stei^hanops, and Mastigoccrca. More than 

 half of Miillcr's species were new W'lien published ; and his figures, taken from life, arc 

 beautifully drawn on copper by himself. Of course there is a great lack of detail in the 

 drawmgs of the internal structure of the animals, but they are an immense advance on 

 those of Eiclihorn, the outlines being usually both spirited and faithful. 



Midler's text, too, is as good as his figm-es. It is the work not only of a naturalist, 

 but of a thoughtful and learned man ; and both the " Animalcula Infusoria " and his pre- 

 vious work, " Vermium Terrestrium et Flmiatihum," abound with admirable and striking 

 passages. In the latter, he thus begins his dissertation on the Infusoria : " The world 

 of the invisible, a world shut to our ancestors, was first entered about a hundred years 

 ago. It breeds monsters of unheard-of form and manner of life, it abounds in miracles 

 as much as do the remote Indies ; but is explored with lesser peril, for it lies everywhere 

 at om- very feet, and is not sought out for gold. 



" Each was explored with great slaughter of its inhabitanits ; the one often resisted 

 by wasting the lives of its aggressors, the other had no defence but patience. 



" This we owe to the needle, which joined two hemispheres together ; that to the 

 lens, which images alike the solar spots and the infusoria, the widest apart of all things. 



" 111 this interval what indeed is great, what little ? Man : for he thinks and sufi'ers." 



L. JOBLOT styles himself, " Professour Iloyal en Math^matiques, de I'Academie Eoyale 

 de Peinture et Sculpture, demeuraiit sur le Quayde I'llorloge du Palais, au grosllaisin." 



' See ri. B, li.'. 11. 



