58 PROCURING OBJECTS. 



bringing to light great numbers of living beings, of whose existence 

 but a few years back we had no reasonable proof. From the chilly 

 regions of the Glaciers, with their coloured snow, to the pools or 

 Egypt, with their livi ng forms ; from the waters of the Cattegat to 

 the sunny waves of Mexico ; from the Bergmehl of Finland to the 

 brown mould of Newmarket ; has the enquiring mind of the naturalist 

 drawn evidence of the all-pervading principle of life. Forms, from 

 whence the essence of vitality has long since departed, have given up 

 their remnants from the chalk, and beings invisible to the naked eye 

 of man have been summoned from their entombment in their flinty 

 sarcophagi. The chaos of old systematists has passed away, and a 

 structure of beauty has been formed from its heterogeneous materials. 

 From the constant accessions to our knowledge of microscopic life, 

 we cannot but acknowledge the truth of the poet's description 



" Full nature swarms with life one wondrous mass 

 Of animals or atoms organised 

 Waiting the vital breath, when parent Heaven 

 Shall bid his spirit blow. The hoary fen 

 In putrid streams emits the living cloud 

 Of pestilence. Through subterranean cells, 

 Where searching sunbeams scarce can find a way, 

 Earth animated heaves. The flowery leaf 

 Wants not its soft inhabitants. Secure, 

 Within its winding citadel, the stone 

 Holds multitudes. But chief the forest boughs, 

 That dance unnumbered to the playful breeze, 

 The downy orchard, and the melting pulp 

 Of mellow fruit, the nameless nation feed 

 Of evanescent insects. Where the pool 

 Stands mantled o'er with green, invisible, 

 Amid the floating verdure, millions stray. 

 Each liquid too, whether it pierces, soothes, 

 Inflames, refreshes, or exalts the taste, 

 With various forms abounds. Nor is the stream 

 Of purest crystal, nor the lucid air, 

 Though one transparent vacancy it seems, 

 Void of their unseen people. These, concealed 

 By the kind art of forming Heaven, escape 



