ORDER V. INFUSORIA. 323 



GONIUM, COLPODA, PARAMECIUM, CYCLIDIUM, BURSARIA, 

 VIBRIO, ENCHELIS, BACILLARIA, VOLVOX, and MONAS. 



Most of these are microscopic, and consequently our know- 

 ledge of their habits is but very imperfect. There can, 

 however, be no doubt that there are gradations of exist- 

 ence below the smallest animalcules which the best micro- 

 scopes have brought to light ; and, though we have 

 already been able to discover myriads of different crea- 

 tures in the least drop of water, yet it seems a rational 

 presumption, and not unworthy of the CREATOR OF ALL, 

 to infer that HE who has filled the immensity of space 

 with habitable matter, with suns, and worlds, has also 

 peopled every particle of that matter with some appro- 

 priate inhabitant, though too minute to be perceived by 

 any apparatus that has yet been invented by man. 



Full Nature swarms with life ; one wond'rous mass 

 Of animals, or atoms organized, 

 Waiting the vital breath, when parent Heaven 

 Shall bid his spirit blow. The hoary fen 

 In putrid steams emits the living cloud 

 Of pestilence. Through subterranean cells, 

 Where searching sun-beams 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 unnumber'd to the playful breeze, 

 The downy orchard, and the melting pulp 

 Of mellow fruit, the nameless nations 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, conceai'd 

 By the kind art of forming Heaven, escape 

 The grosser eye of man. 



P 6 



