The Mighty Deep 



Each little shell is exquisitely shaped, ex- 

 quisitely put together, exquisitely ornamented. 

 Though thousands, nay, millions, of them might 

 be packed into a cubic inch, yet there has 

 been no carelessness, no scamping, in the work, 

 no saying, *' Nobody will see, so anything 

 will do." 



The different kinds of Diatoms are innumer- 

 able ; and each kind, each species, even each 

 variety, has its own especial form, its own com- 

 plex design, followed out and faithfully repro- 

 duced in hundreds of millions of individuals. 



Pattern-markings, by which each variety is 

 distinguished, formed of an infinitude of delicate 

 lines and dots, arranged in every imaginable 

 fashion, vary to an extent almost beyond con- 

 ception. There are cases round, triangular, 

 lengthy, many-sided, chain-like — but to picture 

 them in words is hopeless. They have to be 

 studied in their own wonderful minuteness and 

 delicacy, complexity, and loveliness, before they 

 can be known. 



In all this again we surely find unmistakable 

 evidence of a Mind, hidden, out of sight, inventing 

 and desio^ninor. 



Not the mind of the vegetable-speck, which 

 for a brief space is sheltered in the ornate litde 



156 



