182 



THE MICROSCOPE AND ITS LESSONS. 



These wonderfully beautiful creatures are among the 

 first forms of life, and to them we owe the vast extent of 

 chalk which is found in such abundance; and, by the 

 accumulations of ages, these little microscopical bodies at 

 the sea bottom may form the chalk of a new world when 

 the present age and dispensation shall have passed away. 

 Corals, sponges, and Foraminifera of such are the rocks 

 of the old world formed. When you look into the objects 

 before you, you will find the minute shells of the latter 

 all pierced with a number of little holes, through which 

 the tiny thing would protrude its minute hairy feelers 

 for the capture of its food, or for instruments of locomo- 

 tion through the water. 



Says one writer, "In the organically formed rocks, they 

 have, it may be said, taken the lead, and done far more 

 than any other living being. To the formation of the chalk 

 rocks of the world, they have, by their shells, contributed 

 about ninety per cent, of the whole mass." And to such 

 minute creatures as these, though not of the same family, 



do we owe the material with 

 which the houses in many 

 of our largest cities are 

 built. 



The Pyramids of Egypt 

 were once all alive, for they 

 are entirely composed of 

 minute fossil animals. The 

 'greater portion of the stone 

 of which Paris is built is 

 formed of similar bodies ; 

 and in one cubic inch of 

 the Bohemian rock, from 



Section of limestone, frequently 

 used for building purposes. 



which is obtained the common article of trade known 

 as Tripoli, or polishing powder, it is estimated 40,000 



