INFUSORIA. 9 



called gemmiparous. Another, which may seem more won- 

 derful, is by the division of the body of the parent into 

 parts, each part becoming a distinct animal, and, by a like 

 process, giving life to numerous others. This mode, which has 

 been termed the fissiparous* "is amazingly productive, and 

 indeed far surpasses in fertility any other with which we are 

 acquainted, not excepting the most prolific insects, or even 

 fishes. Thus, the Paramecium aurelia, if well supplied with 

 food, has been observed to divide every twenty-four hours ; 

 so that, in a fortnight, allowing the product of each division 

 to multiply at the same rate, 16,384 animalcules would be 

 produced from the same stock, and in four weeks the astonish- 

 ing number of 268,435,456 new beings would result from a 

 continued repetition of the process. We shall feel but little 

 surprised, therefore, that, with such powers of increase, these 

 minute creatures soon become diffused in countless myriads 

 through the waters adapted to their habits." f 



There is yet another mode of propagation among the Infu- 

 soria, the oviparous, or that from ova or eggs. As the ditches 

 in which they live dry up in Summer, the animalcules perish ; 

 but, prior to this, the mature ova burst through the skin of 

 the parent, and thus the last act of the creature's life is to 

 provide for the continuance of the species, by depositing 

 thousands of fertile germs. These are lifted up by the winds, 

 are dispersed through the atmosphere, and float in the air, 

 ready to assume the functions of active life, so soon as they 

 are placed in circumstances favourable for its development. 



When we reflect upon the singular structure " of these 

 miniature existences, small almost to invisibility," J and on the 

 providential care evinced in maintaining, by such varied 

 means, the continuance of the species, we see " that greatness 

 and littleness make no difference to God in his creation or his 

 providence." They reveal to us that " magnitude is nothing 

 in His sight ; that He is pleased to frame and to regard the 

 small and weak as benignly and as attentively as the mighty 

 and the massive." On further investigation, it would be no 

 less obvious that these minute and insignificant creatures are 

 made the humble instruments of great benefits to man, and of 

 important physical changes on the surface of the globe. 



* Latin, fissus, divided; pario, I produce. 



f Jones' Outlines of the Animal Kingdom. 



j Sharon Turner's Sacred History of the World. 



