THE PAGE OF NATURE. 185 



the union of their contents by means of interposed tubes, 

 and the subsequent production of a germinating spore ; 

 thus leaving their vegetable origin no longer a doubtful 

 question. The inconceivable rapidity with which these 

 plants propagate themselves will fully account for their 

 almost universal diffusion, and the enormous accumula- 

 tion of strata which they form in certain districts. In- 

 deed, so extraordinary are these powers of reproduction, 

 that Ehrenberg describes several species of diatoms, 

 which carry on the process of merismatic division to such 

 an extent, as to produce from a single frustule, invisible 

 to the naked eye, the enormous number of 140,000,000 

 of distinct individuals, in the short space of four days 

 a number sufficient to form, by the accumulation of their 

 silicious skeletons, two cubic feet of the Bilin polishing 

 slate. 



Such is a brief and imperfect sketch of the history 

 and peculiarities of these wonderful plants. They open 

 up to us the infinitude of microscopic life, reveal a vast 

 and glorious realm of new creative design, whose limits 

 can never be fathomed, and whose mysteries can never 

 be exhausted by man's finite researches. It is not so 

 much what they actually disclose that awes and astonishes 

 us ; but the bewildering boundlessness of the unknown 

 arcana beyond, to which they point. The vast addi- 

 tions which they have made to our knowledge, have 

 only left the immensity of the universe of life greater 

 and more mysterious than before. For it is all but cer- 

 tain, that if our vision could be made more piercing, 

 and our instruments more perfect, while we explored 

 onwards through the successive realms of the invisible 



