HOUND THE INDIAN MUSEUM. 



diately applied to the top and the tube withdrawn. 

 The contents of the tube are received into a watch- 

 glass and examined with a lens. There is something 

 in it, and this must be properly examined under a 

 higher power. By the aid of one of the glass rods, 

 a drop is transferred to a glass-slide and placed on the 

 stage of the microscope. 



" Do you see anything ?" 



" Nothing that we can make out, sir." 



" Focus the microscope properly, and look again." 



" Ah yes, there is something gliding across the field of 

 the microscope. How funny." 



" Funny indeed ! But let us hear what they look like." 



" They look like small masses of some ielly-like ob- 

 jects of oval or rounded forms." 



" You have not seen them Hari Charan, neither you 

 nor my friend Vidyabhushan." 



" Did I not hear you describing them as of oval or 

 rounded forms ? As far as I can see they are very 

 irregular in shape, all bays and promontories, that is, 

 projections on one side and depressions on another. 



"So they are." 



"Do you know what they are ?" 



"No sir, we don't." 



"From the fact of their movements you must have 

 concluded that they are no mere masses of dead mat- 

 ter but something endowed with life, and so they really 

 are. They are the Simplest forms of Living things and 

 the Zoologists call them Amceba" 



