WITH ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY. 119 



wheel animalcule, can live only in water, and is 

 commonly found in that which has remained 

 stagnant for some time in the gutters of houses. 

 But it may be deprived of this fluid, and re- 

 duced to perfect dryness, so that all the func- 

 tions of life shall be completely suspended, yet 

 without the destruction of the vital principle ; 

 for this atom of dust, after remaining for years 

 in a dry state, may be revived in a few minutes 

 by being again supplied with water." * Other 

 animalcules exhibit the same phenomenon ; and 

 the analogy is still further carried on by the 

 fact well known to gardeners, that seeds which 

 have been long kept, will vegetate more surely 

 if soaked for some time in water before they are 

 planted. 



Every discovery in whatever science, seems 

 more and more clearly to point to simplicity of 

 Design and Unity of purpose in nature : 

 Where the same course and method will accom- 

 plish a similar end, a different one seems never 

 to be adopted. All the researches of modern 

 physical science, though they may place new 

 objects and new substances within our view, 

 tend to lessen, not enlarge the list of elemen- 



* Roget, Anim. and Veget. Pbys. vol i. p. 62. 



