'264 THE MICROSCOPE AND ITS LESSONS. 



nation. Some resemble wheat-sheaves bending beneath 

 .the grain, each ear representing a row of very sharp and 

 destructive teeth ; others resemble a portion of the wall 

 of some armoury, where sword-blades, bayonets, and other 

 instruments of destruction glitter in the light we throw 

 upon them in astonishing brightness ; and we leave off 

 with the conviction that the common enemy of our garden 

 plants, the great black slug, or the edible snail, whose 

 eyes are at the tip of its two horns, and who crawls along 



Garden Suail. 



with its curious house on its back, containing many 

 furnished chambers, is a thing to be wondered at, after all. 



Who would think of looking for the beautiful in the 

 structure of the hard horny hoof of an ox ? But what 

 tongue can describe the remarkable nature of this very 

 common object for the microscope ! It is built up in the 

 most elaborate fashion, and, when seen under polarized 

 light, suggests the most gorgeous patterns for various 

 fine-art objects. 



Here again is a transverse section of the horn of a 

 rhinoceros. You will immediately suppose it is an 



