GO THE MICROSCOPE. 



CHAPTEK V. 



MICROSCOPIC ILLUSTRATIONS. 



1. THE marvels of the invisible world, as thus 

 illustrated by the Microscope, may explain many 

 perplexing passages that we meet with in the 

 records of history, and in the events of every- 

 day life. 



2. In his Aspects of Nature, Humboldt states 

 that the Otomacs, a tribe inhabiting the banks 

 of the Orinoco, subsist by eating earth during 

 a part of the year when they have no other 

 food. They knead this earth into balls, bake 

 them, and use them as their only sustenance 

 during two or three months of the year. " If 

 an Otomac be asked," says Humboldt, " what 

 are his winter (the rainy season) provisions, 

 he will point to the heaps of clay in his hut." 1 

 Nay, this race so much relish their earthen 



1 Aspects of Nature, pp. 142-4. 



