TISSUE FORMATION. 71 



up a few facts and arrange them in proper relations, yet 

 the pursuit of knowledge continually brings us nearer to 

 the fountain of Absolute Truth. To the microscope, 

 even more than to the telescope, belongs the introduc- 

 tion of the inquirer into the arcana of the universe. If 

 it does not lead us outward into realms of space, which 

 exhibit the same relations of scientific and abstract truth 

 as the world on which we dwell, it leads us inward to- 

 ward the foundations of our own existence, and shows, 

 that the relations of truth are as perfect in the descend- 

 ing as in the ascending sphere. If we see not life itself, 

 we see its first beginnings, and the process of its devel- 

 opment. If we see not Nature in her undress, we trace 

 the elementary warp and woof of her mystic drapery. 

 From both telescope and microscope alike we learn 

 that the widening sphere of knowledge is constantly 

 encircled by the unknown/ yet through them we see 

 above and beneath us a myriad instances of the skill and 

 providence of a Great Designer, who is God and Father 

 of all. The living atom shines with truth no less than 

 the star. 



" Forever singing as they shine, 

 The hand that made us is divine." 



