306 ~ The Microscope. 



to the vegetable, and this to the mineral, incessantly at work, is 

 found everywhere that moisture abounds. 



Saville W. Kent has gracefully said: "Inappreciable individu- 

 ally to the unaided vision, the countless hosts of the infusorial 

 world, more familiar, perhaps to the popular mind under the desig- 

 nation animalcules, or animalcula, surround us literally on every 

 side. They abound in the full plentitude of life, alike in the 

 running stream, the still and weed-grown pond, or the trackless 

 ocean. Nay more; every dew-laden blade of grass supports its 

 multitudes, while in their semi-torpid, encysted or sporalar state 

 they permeate as dust the atmosphere we breathe, and beyond 

 question form a more or less considerable increment of the very 

 food we swallow." 



But it is not altogether the invisible and theoretical that 

 challenge our attention and admiration. Mountain masses of lime- 

 stone are their enduring monuments. From the warm seas of 

 remote geological ages to the cooler seas of the present, they have 

 been separating from sea-water the carbonate of lime, and fixing the 

 carbonic gas, until it is manifest that they have done more than all 

 other life towards preparing the present state of the modified crust 

 of the earth. At the same time, they have recorded, in the rocky 

 volumes by their entombed shells, much of the history of the past. 



This society of microscopists has, from the first, kindly received, 

 discussed and published contributions to our knowledge of the 

 various groups of the simplest plants and animals; hence, it seems 

 appropriate to briefly enumerate some of the chief problems, pertain- 

 ing to the protozoa, which are open to us for investigation, problems 

 to the solution of which the future work of the Society should con- 

 tribute. Obviously, the first work to be accomplished by American 

 students of the group, are the identification of the species, naming, 

 describing and figuring the new species and genera, recording the 

 distribution and habitats, and the presentation of the same in avail- 

 able publications. It is with pleasure and pride that we justly claim 

 that in these lines the work is going forward vigorously, although the 

 number of students is limited and, thus far, almost exclusively 

 restricted to fresh-water and parasitic forms. The results already 

 recorded plainly show that the protozoic fauna of our inland waters 

 is extremely rich, presenting many characteristic and peculiar spe- 

 cies. Many of our numerous species are undoubtedly identical, or 

 differ but slightly from European species, so slightly that I have not 

 considered them of specific value, whilst many more are perfectly 



