188 THE MICROSCOPE AND ITS LESSONS. 



nummulites, considerably larger than our Foraminiferous 

 object, but not half so beautiful. And here, allied to this 

 curiosjty, is another small piece from the Vocal Memnon 

 of Thebes, that huge record of the mighty past, an obelisk 

 called the Sphinx, probably a column forming the 

 entrance to some grand temple when Moses was brought 

 up in the Court of Pharaoh ; but how different to its 

 near neighbour! This great figure has very recently 

 been discovered to be considerably larger than any 

 history has recorded; the sculptor fashioned a fabulous 

 being, the human part being represented by a female. 

 This " Vocal Sphinx " was so called because it was said 

 to sing when the sun arose, and to sigh when it set. 

 The structure of the stone, when viewed as an opaque 

 object that is, by transmitted light gives it all the 

 appearance of the human lung, being formed of a material 

 entirely different to limestone; but which, from its 

 porous character, may give some day a modern clue to 

 the mystery of its ancient music. 



From chalk we naturally pass to flint, which we find 

 to be so frequently embedded in it. Think of the various 

 forms which this flint takes, from the beautiful spicules 

 in sponge, to those of the still more beautiful siliceous 

 skeletons of some of the lowest forms of vegetable life 

 which we have already seen in Diatomacese ! The beauti- 

 ful forms of the Foraminifera are even surpassed in these 

 exquisite gems of nature, and their size is infinitely 

 smaller ; the markings often resembling the fine engine- 

 turned lines of a watch-case, though almost immeasurably 

 finer. 



Here are four beautiful species of these minute 

 skeletons, magnified four hundred diameters ; but as this 

 work was not intended for experts in microscopical know- 

 ledge, but beginners, I may here remark that their true 



