APPLICATIONS O*' THE MICROSCOPE. 121 



water, or from the crush of the Arctic iceberg ? 

 These questions demanded an immediate and 

 satisfactory answer, in connection with the grand 

 idea of effecting instantaneous communication 

 between the two great nations of the Anglo- 

 Saxon race. But could an answer be obtained ? 

 2. No eye of man had seen that sea-bottom, 

 and it seemed, therefore, as if man would in 

 vain expect the much-desired response. " It 

 was found more difficult to sound out the sea 

 than to gauge the blue ether arid fathom the 

 vaults of the sky." But the little eye of the 

 Microscope has scanned these otherwise unseen 

 paths, and reported to us much of the geography 

 and natural history of these hitherto untrodden 

 and unknown regions ; for the dredgings brought 

 up from the Atlantic's most profound depths, and 

 subjected to the scrutiny of the Microscope, are 

 found to consist of the most tender and delicate 

 organisms, lying in their lowly bed all untouched 

 and unscathed by the roll of the raging floods, 

 or the pressure of the huge iceberg, as it floats 

 resistlessly on its southern course from the 

 Arctic circle towards the Equator. There, 

 then, where the Microscope shows us the little 



