618 THE MOUNTAIN. 



without the minimum ? Give us the minimum, and we will pro- 

 ject for you the maximum. So have they meditated through 

 laborious lives, so have they struggled through solitary and 

 desolate worlds, and thus have they stoutly battled with stern 

 reasoning through brave analyses, from the chaos of neces- 

 sary initial logomachies of the "quantitative or qualitative 

 relations," "primary, secondary, or infinite number of par- 

 ticles, homogeneous in quality, heterogeneous in form," 

 "necessary reality of vacuum or space and motion;" that 

 "all phenomena arise from the infinite variety of form, order, 

 and position of the atom in forming combinations," "mo- 

 tion being the eternal necessary consequence of the origi- 

 nal variety of atoms in the vacuum or space, the atom 

 being impenetrable," until they have emerged into the 

 clear sunlight of inductive science; that nature consists of 

 minima; that the crystal and the globe are but masses of 

 atoms; and that all organized bodies are cells or organic 

 points; that the protococcus floating through the heavens 

 and falling with the rain or snow, and the stately elephant 

 and ponderous whale are but magical representations of 

 that strange atom, the protoplastic cell,* held under the 



* For interesting information -with regard to an order of wonders 

 far outstripping the powers of the imagination, and suggesting matter 

 for profound reflection concerning the ultimate structure of organic 

 bodies, made through the discovery of the microscope by modern 

 naturalists, see the following dissertations: 



Reflections on the Phenomenon of Rejuvenescence in Nature, Espe- 

 cially in the Life and Development of Plants. By Dr. Alexander 

 Braun^ Professor of Botany in the University of Berlin. Leipsic, 

 1851. Translated by Arthur Henfrey. 



Animal Nature of Diatomeae: with an Organographical Revision 

 of the Genera Established by Kiitzing. By Professor G. Meneghini. 

 Translated from the original Italian edition. Venice, 1845. 



On the Natural History of Protococcus Pluvialis. By Ferdinand 

 Cohn. (Abstracted from the "Nova Acta Acad. Caes. Leop. Carolin. 

 Naturse Curios. Bonn.," tome 22, pp. 605-764; 1850.) By George 

 Busk, F.R.S. 



Reports and Papers on Botany, consisting of I. Mohl on the 

 Structure of the Palm-stem. II. Nageli on Vegetable-cells. III. Nil- 



