IGl) On Oceanic Infusoria, Living and Fossil. 



At fii'ht the effect produced by things so small, thousands of which 

 might be contained in a drop, and millions packed together in a 

 cubic inch, may appear of trifling moment, when speaking of so grand 

 an operation as the deposition of submarine strata. But as each 

 moment has its value in the measurement of time, to whatever ex- 

 tent of ages the succession may be prolonged, so each of these atoms 

 has a definite relation to space, and their constant production and de- 

 position will at length result in mountains. The examination of the 

 most ancient of the stratified rocks, and of all others in tlie ascending 

 scale, and the investigation of deposits now in course of formation, 

 teach us that, from the first dawn of animated nature, up to the pre- 

 sent hour, this prolific family has never ceased its activity. Eng- 

 land may boast that the sun never sets upon her empire, but 

 here is an ocean realm whose subjects are literally more nume- 

 rous than the sands of the sea. We cannot count them by 

 millions simply, but by hundreds of thousands of millions. Indeed, 

 it is futile to speak of numbers in lelation to things so uncount- 

 able. Extensive rocky strata, chains of hills, beds of marl, almost 

 every description of soil, whether superficial or raised from a great 

 depth, contain the remains of these little plants in greater or less 

 abundance. Some great tracts of country are literally built up of 

 their skeletons. No country is destitute of such monuments, and in 

 some they constitute the leading features in the structure of the soil. 

 The world is a vast catacomb of diatonMcem ; nor is the growth of 

 those old dwellers on our earth diminished in its latter days. 



These earliest inhabitants of the world seem destined to outlive 

 beings of larger growth, whose race has a definite limit, both ends 

 of its existence comprised far within the duration of a species of dia- 

 tomaccee. Many of the existing species are found in a fossil state, 

 even in early beds. No part of our modern seas is without this 

 ever-springing vegetation. Of this fact, the late antarctic expe- 

 dition* afforded many striking proofs. One of the objects of 

 that expedition was to obtain soundings of the deep sea ; and 

 these were made at depths which would have engulphed Chim- 

 borazo in the abyss ; yet the lead constantly brought up diato- 

 niaceep, even if nothing else. Nor did the eternal winter of the 

 antarctic sea diminish the number of these vegetables. Other 

 sea-plants ceased at Cockburn Island, in the low latitude of 64° S. • 

 and, thenceforward, the diatomacecB formed the whole vegetation. 

 The icy wall, called Victoria Barrier, which, at length, stopped 

 the southward progress of the intrepid navigators, was found em- 

 browned with them. Floating masses of ice, when melted, yielded 

 them in millions. In many places they formed a scum on the 

 surface of the icy sea. 



i^To he contimied in our next.) 



* See Hooker's " Flora Antarctica," vol. ii. 



