IZ 
as must be caused by so vast a column of water, remains 
a mystery! From the result of deep sea sonndings and 
dredgings it appears that the entire sea bottom is positively 
coated with a layer of living jelly which, probably, forms 
food for more highly organised life, but which can itself 
obtain nourishment only from mineral sources. The ever- 
lasting snow of the North Pole still sustains life, both animal 
and vegetable, and the part that is, perhaps, the most desti- 
titute of living creatures, is, where at first sight we should 
most expect them, in some of the tropical parts of South 
America, where exist burning arid deserts, apparently quite 
devoid of organic life. ‘‘Here,” says Darwin, “I saw neither 
bird, quadruped, reptile, nor insect, except the vulture, which 
preys on the carcases of the unfortunate mules which have 
perished of fatigue in attempting to cross the desert.” Even 
the very air we breathe is peopled with minute dust composed 
of infusorial life, and that in regions, where we should least 
expect it. Far away at sea, 1,500 or 1,600 miles away from 
shore Professor Ehrenberg discovered no less than 67 different 
kinds of infusoria in five little specimens of thin microscopic 
dust. How these living forms are generated is a marvel of 
science. Some say from spontaneous generation, though it 
is contrary to all our ideas that any living being can spring 
into existence of itself, and yet they are generated and live in 
solutions of organic matter which have been put in hermeti- 
cally sealed flasks and submitted to a boiling temperature for 
upwards of 4 hours. You would think no germs of life could 
survive after such a boiling as this! And yet we know that 
not only some water weeds, but even fish will live, and appa- 
rently enjoy life, in water so hot that it would actually doz? 
them if dead! Many fish will live in water so hot that it is 
impossible to bear the hand in it, and Humboldt saw living 
fishes thrown up from a crater in South America, in water 
whose temperature was 210°, only 2 degrees less than boiling ! 
I have before alluded to those tiny living atoms called Dia- 
toms, each measuring from 5 tO 19 Of an inch, and which 
yet exist or existed in such vast myriads as to form no in- 
conceivable portion of the earth’s surface. Some recent 
discoveries have revealed the curious fact that there exists a 
rather extensive list of animals inhabiting vast gloomy caves 
and cells, which are perfectly without any vestiges of eyes‘ 
