1863.] THE MINUTE AND THE BEAUTIFUL. 547 



tropics or Wellingtonia gigantea of California ; so " wonderful is 

 our Creator in counsel, so excellent in working." 



The spore-cases of the following Ferns are very handsome, and 

 may be seen to advantage with a power of about sixty : — Poly- 

 stichum Lonchitis, Aspleniumv hide, Scolopendrium vulgare, aud 

 the chaffy scales of Ceterach officinarum. 



The pollen-grains of Phssnogams, as well as the spores and 

 spore-cases of Cryptogams, will, by examination, be found to 

 possess exquisite symmeti'y and beauty. To the unassisted eye 

 the contents of the anthers appear only as the fine " dust in the 

 balance," or the atom that sports in the sunbeam. But when 

 the powers of the microscope are brought to bear upon this 

 seemingly impalpable powder, how different is the appearance ! 

 Instead of " fine dust," we perceive miniature bodies of diversified 

 forms and singular beauty, characteristic of the genus of plants 

 to which they respectively belong ; each genus possessing pollen- 

 grains in figure and size peculiar to itself and to itself alone. 



These grains are of almost all conceivable forms, the spheroidal 

 form, however, being more or less preserved. Indeed, it is very 

 singular that the spherical form seems to prevail throughout or- 

 ganic nature. The constituent part of plants and animals is the 

 cell, which usually partakes more or less of the character of a 

 sphere ; yea, the great globe itself, the smi, with his retinue of 

 planetary worlds, are circular bodies. 



The Great Creator has indelibly inscribed upon His works the 

 emblem of His own eternity, in that He has made them circular 

 orbs, — a circle, like Himself, having neither beginning nor end. 



Such of the readers of this journal as possess a microscope 

 will, by applying it to the pollen-grains of many of our garden 

 and wild flowers, find that these minute bodies as truly show 

 forth the power and wisdom of Jehovah as the lofty mountain 

 or the boundless ocean. The pollen-grains of the genus Malva 

 are large and spherical, and thickly beset " behind and before " 

 with prickles ; they may be seen perfectly with a linear power of 

 sixty diameters. 



Although in general the spherical form of pollen-grains pre- 

 vails, still many singular and remarkable deviations occur in 

 different genera. The Tulip has its pollen-grains, a perfectly- 

 formed equal-angled spherical triangle. In the Lily they are 

 like a parabolic spindle; in the Dandelion and Sowthistle the 



