126 THE MICROSCOPE. 



have many important bearings on geology and 

 zoology." 1 



6. The specimens, " bits of down from the 

 bed of the ocean," gave microscopic Foramini- 

 fera in abundance ; Diatoms, Polycistias, and 

 Spongiolites. " The unabraded appearance of 

 these organisms, and the almost total absence 

 of the mixture of any detritus from the sea, or 

 foreign matter, suggest most forcibly the idea 

 of perfect repose at the bottom of the deep sea." 

 Thus the appearance of these deep-sea remains, 

 under the close examination of the Microscope, 

 appear clearly to warrant the conclusion at 

 which Mr. Maury arrives, as to the soft cha- 

 racter of the bottom of the Atlantic, its quies- 

 cent state, and its adaptation for a telegraphic 

 cable. 



But this new and strange field of observation, 

 subjected to the Microscope, might naturally 

 be expected to disclose great truths altogether 

 apart from the conclusions originally sought. 

 So it has turned out. These little mites of 

 organisms seem to form but slender clews for 

 threading nature's mysteries, yet they suggest 



1 Maury's Physical Geography of the Sea, pp. 254, 255. 



