MODERN INVENTIONS AND THEIR RESULTS. 7 



5. If the state of science forty years ago jus- 

 tified these glowing reflections, what language 

 would the matchless writer have employed to 

 depict the progress of discovery, through the 

 aid of the Microscope, in our day, and to enforce 

 the arguments thence arising for the presence 

 of God in all His worlds, and His care for all 

 His works ! Forty years ago the Microscope 

 was comparatively but a mere " toy ;" its capa- 

 bilities of being advanced to its present perfec- 

 tion were not anticipated ; and still less were 

 its recent discoveries dreamt of, even by the 

 most sanguine of those who sought its assist- 

 ance in their researches. This instrument had 

 been for two centuries in the hands of the most 

 gifted students of nature, but still a thick and 

 apparently impenetrable veil wrapped in deep 

 obscurity many a world of exquisite variety and 

 beauty, that had been lying all undiscovered 

 under the eye of man, or had been trodden 

 under his foot at every step he took in the 

 journey of life ! The most favoured of nature's 

 explorers stood only in the outer court of her 

 temple, seeing through a cloud darkly ; and 

 over the gate by which he strove to penetrate 



