REFLECTIONS. 83 



Were we to describe the facts that have come under 

 our notice to persons unacquainted with the optical 

 powers of the microscope, and tell them, that the seem- 

 ingly particles of earth in the water, are creatures of 

 various forms and structures, endowed with life, and 

 the capacity for its enjoyment; that those flakes of 

 mucus, are aggregated thousands of animals in the shape 

 of flowers, which increase, like plants, by buds and by 

 self-division; that some of these creatures are carni- 

 vorous, feeding on living atoms more infinitesimal than 

 themselves ; that others are herbivorous, and nourished 

 by particles of decomposed vegetables, too minute to 

 be visible till accumulated in the internal organs of 

 the animalcules; that we selected some of these ani- 

 mals, and caused them to swallow carmine, and thus 

 imparted a red colour to their digestive organs, and 

 rendered their structure more obvious; that some are 

 free, and roam through the water at pleasure, others 

 always sedentary, others locomotive in youth, and 

 fixed to one spot in after-life ; that many have eyes, the 

 number and colour of which can be distinguished ; 

 that the difference in the relative magnitude of these 

 creatures is as great as that between a mouse and an 

 elephant ; that if the water in which these beings are 

 now immersed be allowed to evaporate, and the sedi- 

 ment become as dry as dust, and this be moistened 



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