684 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



and appropriate the life-bearing atom from the impregnated waters ? 

 Some silly soul asserts that a fool can ask questions in an hour, which a 

 wise man could not answer in a lifetime. Leaving the reader to classify 

 the asker of the above question as is most conducive to his individual 

 comfort, I mean to play the wise man in attempting an answer to the 

 query. 



When the season and leisure suit — following the example of Simon Peter 

 of blessed memory — " I go a-fishing ;" but with the ripening of the grape, 

 and the fiill of the leaf, the old rod is hung in the closet, and the fly-book 

 placed beyond the reach of " thieves to steal" or " moths to corrupt." 

 Then Trouts and brooks, and the solemn woods, become pleasant memories 

 whereon to hang hopes of a " right serious fish" in the coming springtime. 

 The great waters being closed, I then fish on the stage of the microscope, 

 and in a single drop of water contemplate the unbounded resources of 

 creative power. 



In a lake formed by a fraction of a drop of water placed on a slip of 

 polished glass, and covered by a film of mica (to prevent immediate eva- 

 poration), we may observe phenomena to aid in answering our query. 



In the water contained between these two surfaces, is verge and 

 scope for a myriad brood to act out their brief play of love and hate. If 

 your glass be good you may observe them to toy and play, to pursue and 

 prey on each other, as humanly as their brother worms in tailed coats and 

 epaulets. 



Now, it is no longer the simplicity of these atoms of animated jelly that 

 surprises us, but the complication of their organization, which is wholly 

 microscopic. And we need not long for the variety of the mountain lake 

 or river side, as we gaze into this new world of being. For here we per- 

 ceive moving bodies of varied and beautiful form, many presenting exam- 

 ples of perfect harmony and proportion, and all richly endowed with the 

 organs and faculties of animal life, and provided with all that can be 

 needed for their happy existence. In size these vary from a thousandth to 

 the twenty-thousandth part of an inch. They move across the stage, some 

 gliding and slow, some with a velocity proportionately transcending 

 man's powers of locomotion even on the rail car. Mark this Uvella, at 

 least the three-thousandth part of an inch in bulk ; with twelve stomachs, 

 each rendered visible by some score of green monads contained therein : 

 with douljle proboscides, thrashing the water to scare up other prey to fill 

 some stomach it may possess, other than the twelve already discovered. 

 Imagine one of these animals, of which a cubic inch would contain 

 twenty-seven thousand million:-;, and listen to that waggish old micro- 



