22 THE UNIVERSE. 



that the same creature, the Discercea nivalis, seems to pro- 

 duce it everywhere, on the icy summits of the Alps and 

 on the snows of the farthest Polar regions to which man has 

 penetrated ; for red snow is met with even in these frozen 

 realms. 



9. Infusoria and Living Diatomaceae from the Strata under Berlin, as seen with the micro- 

 scope. 



The pantheists supposed life to be disseminated through 

 all the interstices of matter. These microscopic animal- 

 cules recall this theory, as they often abound where we 

 might least expect to find them. Although our enlightened 

 age has destroyed the hypothesis of panspermism, which 

 held that every particle of creation contained germs or liv- 

 ing organisms, yet we must admit that, though these im- 

 palpable metaphysical germs existed only in the imagina- 



