THE MICROSCOPIST IN BERMUDA/ 



Out in the midst of the Atlantic Ocean, directly east of Charl- 

 eston, and over six hundred miles from it, or from any other 

 land whatever, lies the little group of the Bermuda Islands. It 

 is claimed that there are 365 islands in the group; but all told, 

 there is not as much dry land in them as there is in the corporate 

 limits of the City of Rochester. A mere speck in the wide 

 waste of waters, it is a wonder that it was ever discovered, or 

 being once discovered, that it was ever found again. In fact 

 both these events were the mere chance results of shipwrecks. 

 In the year 1522, Juan Bermudez, a Spaniard, was wrecked on 

 these islands while on his way to the New World. He was glad 

 enough to get away with leaving only his name on the stormy 

 Bermudas. Nearly a hundred years later, Sir George Sommers, 

 on a voyage from England to Virginia, ran against them and 

 suffered shipwreck. This time the English took formal posses- 

 sion, and have held them ever since. 



They are surrounded by dangerous coral reefs, which lie be- 

 neath the surface of the water, and on all sides except the south, 

 are from ten to fifteen miles from the shore. These treacherous 

 shoals, lying in a wind-beaten sea and in the track of the high- 

 ways of commerce, have been the cause of innumerable maritime 

 disasters. Some of the best fortunes of the island residents 

 have arisen out of the poor mariners' misfortunes. 



I do not however intend to give you either the history or 

 geography of Bermuda; but only to illustrate some scientific 

 facts and a few microscopic preparations, by its singular structure 



* A Lecture written in 1878. Delivered in Canandaigua, and on several 



occasions. 



