INPUSOniAL ANIMALCULES. -3 



exist, all richly endowed with the organs and faculties (as hereinafter 

 fully described) of animal life ! Such, however, is the astonishing 

 fact. Again, to take au exaiuple from those families of Infusoria, 

 which possess the power of chmying tJieir fonns at pleasure, and yet 

 to confine it to the drawings of the first plate (although the second 

 would furnish protean phenomena of a more extraordinary character), 

 take the figures of the family Astasiaa (groups 68 to 82), and you 

 have creatures capable of assuming all the various forms there 

 depicted, in the short interval of a few seconds, and that under the 

 observer's eye. In the beautiful little creatures of the genus 

 Euglena, you maj^ also perceive a distinct vmwl organ, by which they 

 can steer their coiu'se with unerring rectitude. Many of the In- 

 fusoria do not possess this organ. But, mark the all- wise dispensation 

 of Providence in this respect! — those which have it live, for the 

 most part, near the surface of the water, whilst those which have it 

 not, as the Baeillaria, locate near the bottom This circumstance iu 

 their economy has not hitherto been noticed. 



Lastly, — still restricting our observations to the drawings of the 

 first plate, look at the graceful forms of the Closterina {fg.63to group 

 67), which have long rivetted the attention of the most eminent 

 naturalists of modern times, and which long defied all their powers 

 of investigation, aided by all the refined and searching means which 

 human ingenuity could supply, to determine whether they are 

 animals or plants ! 



In short, there is not one species, out of the many hundred 

 described in the third part of this work, but offers ample scope for 

 the exercise of oux deepest reflection, at the same time that it 

 afi'ords an admirable proof of the adaptation and design of Creative 

 Wisdom. 



The plan of this work wiU comprehend a description of those 

 creatures which arc generally to be found in animal or vegetable 

 infusions, and such as agree with them in their general structure 

 and habits. Special descriptions of each will be found in Part III. 



In Die Bifusionsthierschen, the author has occasionally introduced 

 animals which have been classed imder other divisions of the animal 

 kingdom. As examples, we may take the family Dynobryonia, the 

 members of which are classed as zoophites by other naturalists. 



B 2 



