140 



VIEWS OF THE MICROSCOPIC WORLD. 

 Fig. 236. 



The strength of the flea is very great ; for at the fair of Charlton in Kent, in 

 the year 1830, a man exhibited three fleas harnessed to a carriage fifty times 

 their own bulk, which they pulled along with great ease ; another pair drew a 

 carriage, and a single flea a brass cannon. 



A MITE MAGNIFIED. Upon carefully viewing with the naked eye the fine dust 

 of figs, or decayed portions of old cheese, round, living specks will frequently be 

 seen, moving slowly and with difficulty among the atoms by which they are sur- 

 rounded. These specks have received the name of mites, and are so small that 

 they easily elude observation. When magnified under the solar microscope, their 

 images are seen moving around upon the screen, endeavoring to avoid the glare of 

 the light. They then appear of considerable dimensions, and their several mem- 

 bers and parts are distinctly revealed. A magnified mite is delineated in figure 

 238. Each of its numerous legs are seen to consist of several joints ; its body 

 is oval, tapering towards the head, which is furnished with antennae, and its 

 surface is covered with numerous long and slender hairs. It is naturally a dis- 

 gusting creature, and the unpleasant associations connected with it render it still 

 more so. 



GLOBULES OF BLOOD. When a drop of flowing blood is taken from the veins 

 of an animal and spread over a glass slide, it is seen to consist of a fluid, to- 

 gether with numerous rounded particles termed globules. These globules enable 

 the observer to detect the motion of the blood, to establish the fact of its circula- 



