28 THE MICROSCOPE. 



Did the world-force, which began 

 Low and darkUng, climb to man, 

 Flower in thought and crown the whole 

 With the glory of a soul ? 



And was evil there, and wrong ? 

 Were there races weak and strong ? 

 Many-peopled lands and climes ? 

 Were there passions ? were there crimes ? 



Tyranny, and caste, and slaves, 

 Was there marriage ? were there graves ? 

 Art and song and science known ? 

 Yield thy meanings, mystic stone! 



Vain the yearning, all in vain 

 Is the soul's ecstatic pain. 

 Wrestling with eternity 

 For intelligence of thee! 



Where thy home and native skies 



Mind is powerless to surmise; 



Still the thought will burn and beat, 



Still we ponder and repeat, — • 



From what shattered system hurled, 

 From what planet, from what world. 

 Hast thou wandered to our own. 

 Thou mysterious alien stone ? 



— Youth's Companion. 



Notes on the Spongill^ of Buffat,o. — The presence of 

 sponge in most diatomaceous deposits has led to the conclusion 

 that sponges themselves may be looked for in all perennial, running 

 streams, brooks or lakes. Facts of almost daily occurrence prove 

 this conclusion to be correct, for whenever intelligent search has 

 been made at the right season, the search has not been in vain. 

 Among the first objects found in the microscopic examination of 

 water from Niagara river were these transparent, pointed, slightly 

 curved bodies, which the experienced microscopist recognizes as 

 proof of the near presence of sponge. In October of 1879, Mr. D. 



