6 VIGNETTES FROM INVISIBLE LIFE. 



begins to look attractive. You carry it home, and, 

 placing a small bit with a drop of water in a glass 

 trough, or on a glass slide under a good microscope 

 and with proper illumination, you behold a most 

 charming picture. The repulsive bit of slime 

 is transformed into trees and flowers, and all in 

 active and beautiful motion. Here may be seen 

 one with wide-spreading branches, with flowers and 

 fruit, and, to all appearance, with birds sitting on 

 its branches. Seeing as much as this, you would 

 hardly be surprised if the birds opened their 

 mouths to sing, and the fruit (like large oranges) 

 dropped in its ripeness. What you do see is almost 

 as strange, for the tree looks alarmed. You have, 

 perhaps, touched the table or the microscope, and 

 so produced a slight vibration which has thus 

 reached the highly sensitive group before you ; 

 and down it sweeps, branches, flowers, fruit, birds, 

 trunk, and all, in tiny contraction. You can only 

 see now, even with good magnification, a very 

 small dot of matter ; but with returning quiet a 

 slight movement is visible. It increases ; the tree 

 spreads out, and is all there again : nothing has 

 been injured. This process is constantly repeated, 



