[June, 1863.] 545 



The Minute and the Beautiful in the Vegetable Kingdom. 

 By John Sim, A.B.S.Ed. 



Natvire, or visible earthly things, have been by scientific men 

 usually divided into three kingdoms, called respectively the 

 Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral. The more highly developed 

 forms of each are easily recognizable, and can with certainty be 

 referred to their respective divisions ; but when we approach the 

 lower and more simple forms of organic life, there is a diffi- 

 culty in deciding to which of the two kingdoms (the vegetable 

 or the animal) they belong. In some cases this is not only dif- 

 ficult, but almost impossible. For example, no one can con- 

 found a cow with a cabbage, or an elephant with an oak ; but 

 who has yet determined with certainty, in the lower forms of 

 organic existence, where animal life ends, and vegetable life 

 begins? It is true, mistakes on this point may not be very 

 numerous, but that they do occur is certain. Naturalists say 

 an animal can easily be known from a plant, by the former pos- 

 sessing a stomach, and the power of locomotion. Though this 

 in general is true, yet to this rule there are many exceptions. 

 The Hydra is all stomach ; and, like a plant, you may propagate 

 it indefinitively, by cuttings or slips. Death to this creature, 

 except by heat, seems a perfect farce. Diatoms and Desmids 

 have not as yet with certainty been determined whether they are 

 animal or vegetable, although the latter opinion seems to be gene- 

 rally adopted. The two kingdoms seem insensibly to merge into 

 each other by means of these minute but beautiful organisms. 



It is my intention in the present paper to call the attention 

 of the readers of the ' Phytologist' to the attractive forms of the 

 minute structures of vegetable life, too minute in many cases to 

 be seen by the naked eye, but made cognizable to the sense of 

 sight by means of microscopic power. To such as have not a 

 microscope, the few hints here given will be of little interest or 

 attraction ; to those who possess that valuable instrument, I 

 trust they will in some measure be appreciated, and prove ac- 

 ceptable. 



Among the minute and beautiful objects in vegetable nature, 

 I know of none which more deservedly claim our attention than 

 the members of Diatomacece. Under a microscope of mode- 

 rate power their structure and symmetry is truly astonishing; a 



N. S. VOL. VI. 4 a 



