INTRODUCTION. 57 
system in every star; the other leads me to see a world in 
every atom. The one taught me that this mighty globe, 
with the whole burden of its people and of its creatures, is 
but a grain of sand on the high field of immensity. The 
other teaches me that every grain of sand may harbour 
within it the tribes and families of a busy population. 
The one told me of the insignificance of the world I tread 
upon. The others redeems it from all insignificance ; for 
it tells me that in the leaves of every forest, and in the 
flowers of every garden, and in the waters of every rivulet, 
there are worlds teeming with life, and numberless as are 
the glories of the firmament.” 
We read with wonder of upwards a hundred thousand 
human beings congregated in one Crystal Palace, and yet 
we think not that in a single drop of water taken from a 
pond, we may have, could our eyes behold them, a still 
greater number of God’s living creatures, freely disporting 
as in a crystal palace, finding also their aquatic habitation 
stored with all that is necessary for the support of their 
happy lives. And so prolific are these little creatures, that 
Ehrenberg, the highest authority in such matters, calculates 
that in a few days a single individual may increase to a 
million, and that in a few days more the increase may be 
