INTRODUCTION. 23 



The learned authority, already referred to, now the 

 President of the Quekett Microscopical Society, is very 

 eloquent upon the fossils which compose the great chalk 

 strata, and his clever photographs of recent foraminifera 

 faithfully delineate their great beauty ; but no words can 

 describe exactly the wonders of their structure. Our cut 

 represents a greatly enlarged specimen of one of the 

 typical and composite forms of the family the Orbitolite, 

 split open to show the internal structure. Dr. Carpenter, 

 writing of this wonderful object, says, " Discs of a com- 

 paratively minute size (from the diameter of an ordinary- 

 sized pin's head to that of a small pea) are to be found in 

 almost all foraminiferous sands and dredgings from the 

 shores of the warmer regions of the globe, and have been 

 long known as a very abundant fossil in the Paris basin ; 

 from the quarries of which stone is taken for the erection 

 of the large buildings in that beautiful city." 



Thus have I introduced the reader to "The Micro- 

 scope and its Lessons." The information it contains will 

 be drawn from the natural objects chiefly in my own 

 collection; the lessons to be learned will be only such as 

 would commend themselves to any ordinary intelligence. 

 I dare not hide from my readers the reflections which a 

 long and very careful study of the works of God have 

 produced both in my heart and my head, my emotions, 

 that is to say, as well as my intellect ; and I am fully 

 convinced that we glorify Him when we are the willing 

 instruments of expounding the beautiful parables not 

 " beautiful myths," as one has called them He is always 

 teaching in the phenomena of what we call "nature." 

 Nor do I remember a greater compliment paid me 

 though it was not intended as such than when one said 

 of me, " Oh, he doesn't care for natural history unless it 

 illustrates religion I " 



