66 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[April, 



tractable diatom, that the merits of 

 their ienses — a Spencer, a Tolles, a 

 Wales, a Zeiss — may be ascertained or 

 displayed. The enthusiasm of these 

 lens-combats is invigoration, refresh- 

 ment, rest. 



There is zest in solitary recreations 

 with the microscope, as well as in so- 

 cial. It is generally conceded that no 

 diversiqp is more absorbing than the 

 chase. Now, here is a drop of water, 

 containing, I surmise, sundry micro- 

 scopic organisms. I look. The most 

 cunning fox never tangled his scent 

 by movements more swift or more 

 bewildering than are those by which 

 the animalcule which I here descry, 

 baffles the pursuit of my vision — now 

 in the field, now out ; now in and out 

 aga'n. And the gills of this oyster — 

 why, I could gaze upon the perfect 

 rhythm and indescribable beauty of 

 the movements of their cilia, with a 

 zest which could take no note of the 

 passing of even the midnight hour. 



Zest in observing begets zeal for 

 discovering, and zeal in the search 

 after objects for the microscope, as 

 much as after any other, renders a 

 man's summer saunterings in field 

 ■and forest an Elysium of delight, a 

 re-creation of mind and body. 



Enthusiasm is magnetic' The en- 

 thusiasm of the amateur microscopist 

 is doubly so, creating and cementing 

 friendships ; and these friendships 

 make Microscopical Societies frater- 

 nities. 



3. Recreations with the microscope 

 minister to benevolence. I have 

 never known an amateur microscopist 

 who did not wish and invite his friends 

 and acquaintances, or eve;i strangers, 

 to share his delight in looking at those 

 beautiful structures and watching 

 those interesting phenomena which 

 are beyond the ken of the naked eye. 

 I have often known him, under the 

 impulse of sheer good-will, to take 

 valuable time from his business and 

 devote it to the patience-taxing work 

 of persuading a recalcitrant frog to 

 keep his foot quiet an hour or two for 

 the promotion of human happiness and 



the instruction of the human under- 

 standing. 



4. Recreations with the microscope 

 serve for education. The effort of 

 dev-^'ion to a systematic course of 

 study without stimulus and direction 

 from the living teacher, is not often 

 an easy or a successful one. In the 

 absence of such teacher the micro- 

 scope is the most efficient of instruct- 

 ors, Its use tending to sharpen percep- 

 tion, to store the memory, to excite 

 the reasoning faculty, and to kindle 

 the imagination. 



The best moment for study and ac- 

 quisition is the moment of interest. 

 The moment of interest in an object 

 is, generally, the moment of the first 

 clear perception of that object, espe- 

 cially through the eye ; for an impres- 

 sion on the mind through that organ is 

 vivid, because instantaneous, precise, 

 and full. Vividness of conception, 

 embracing part of an object, is the 

 parent of curiosity and inquiry respect- 

 ing the whole. So, persons proficient 

 in the subject are consulted, books of 

 explanation are sought after, and a li- 

 brary accumulates; and as the objects 

 of the microscope are unlimited in 

 variety and number, representing 

 every department, particularly of ani- 

 mate nature, and drawn from every 

 quarter of the globe, the short but 

 enthusiastic daily excursions of the 

 intelligent microscopist will, in a com- 

 paratively brief period, make him pro- 

 prietor of an inexhaustible fund of 

 exact, entertaining, and useful knowl- 

 edge. 



Not only is his memory richly fur- 

 nished with facts, but the edge and the 

 point of his reason acquire keenness 

 through his study and contemplation 

 of the marvellously ingenious adapta- 

 tions of means to ends displayed in 

 organisms or parts of organisms in 

 which, but for the stimulus of a micro- 

 scope, no thought of his might ever 

 have been bestowed. Besides, under 

 this mental excitation, he will be 

 tempted to make excursions into the 

 mathematics, into physics, into chem- 

 istry. On the basis of data furnished 



