444 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



croscope lias proved that the substance which forms the elementary mem- 

 branes of the tissue of ail plants, is the same in every species of vegetable. 



The snow flake, under the microscope, presents the appearance of the 

 most exquisitely formed crystals, in such diversity of figures as to amaze 

 and delight all beholders ; single crystals unite, and form double stars, of 

 the most delicate structure, and of several hundred distinct varieties, which 

 enables them to fall lightly upon the tender plants, and efi'ectually protect 

 them from the wintry blast. Suppose it had been ordered diflFerently, and 

 all the water that now falls in this manner, was showered upon us in the 

 form of hail, what would be the consequence ? 



With the microscope I have plainly observed crystals in great abundance 

 within the cells of many plants, and throughout the entire bark of many 

 trees, such as the apple, pear, peach, plum, and likewise forest trees, also 

 in the potato, onion, &c. 



As far as my investigations have gone, microscopically speaking, the 

 wonderful structure of the eyes of insects have amazed me the most. In 

 the common spider, I have counted six in one species, and eight in another. 

 In the centipede, eighteen ; in the horse fly, 3,000 — and Hooke says there 

 are 7,000 ; in the dragon fly, 3,000 ; and Lenenhoeck says there are 12.000, 

 and that they each shine with the brilliancy of the choicest gems, and gleam 

 with the most magnificent hues of light, displaying colors of surpassing 

 beauty. I consider the diamond beetle, one of the most brilliant creatures 

 in existence — when brought under the microscope — his whole entire body 

 glows resplendently with the dazzling colors of the emerald and ruby, the 

 eye. fairly quails under their radiance. The scales of fishes, as objects for 

 the microscope, are exceedingly beautiful, and present an immense number 

 of elegant forms ; even on the same fish, 1 have found scales from difierent 

 parts of the body, differing not only in form, but structure. 



The fine dust that you often see on flowers, known as pollen, when exam- 

 ined by the microscope, presents to the astonished view, an immense num- 

 ber of highly organized bodies, of every form, size, shape and color, accord- 

 ing to the plants from which they are extracted — it is white, blue, purple and 

 yellow ; it is imprisoned in the anther, which opens at the proper season 

 and sets the imprisoned impregnator free to be borne by the atmosphere 

 wherever required to fructify plants of the same genus. I have crushed 

 them when ripe, and have invariably found them full of oil, and if thrown 

 upon water, will cover it with oleaginons particles — this is the matter 

 which fructifies. The pollen of corn, zea mays, looks precisely like buck- 

 wheat when magnified, and contains within each atom, a cell, less in size 

 than the three-thousandth part of an inch, filled with oil. 



A few years since I made a paste of flour and water, by boiling, and 

 placed it in a room where the thermometer ranged at about seventy degrees 

 Fahrenheit, and in five days it was completely alive with minute light 

 brown creatures, much resembling eels. If this experiment is performed 

 in the fall, these eels are oviparous, and produce their young from eggs ; 

 if on the contrary, in the spring, they are viviparous, and a single female 



