360 SOLAR MICROSCOPE. 



velocity of the motions, are all more terrible than the 

 shaking by a lion; and forgetting the magic power of 

 the optical instrument, one shrinks back, and listens to 

 hear the yell of victory, and the shriek of death. All 

 is quiet, however, and one soon recollects that this fell 

 destroyer is a little insect, not two inches long. 



Those who have not otherwise access to a solar mi- 

 croscope, and happen to be in London, may see this 

 contest very well exhibited by the powerful solar micro- 

 scope shown at Carpenter's Microcosm in Regent-street ; 

 where, on a fine sunny day, the sight of this and many 

 much smaller creatures, magnified to giants, and conse- 

 quently moving with apparently incredible swiftness, 

 the wonders of the minute of nature, may be contem- 

 plated with considerable advantage ; and though these 

 exhibitions be but mere sights, they are sights which 

 make one wish to see a little more, which is no incon- 

 siderable matter *in the study of nature. That study 

 wants only a beginning, and the size or habit of the 

 production with which we begin, is a matter of no dif- 

 ference, so that it excites the desire that is to urge us 

 on. It must be admitted, however, that a study which 

 requires microscopes, or any other apparatus, is not 

 the one best adapted for the great body of the people ; 

 and, fortunately, it is not the one most useful. 



The insects which are found on the margin of a brook, 

 or living in its water, or skimming along its surface, 

 are very numerous, and they vary much with the situ- 

 ation, of the brook and its elevation above the level of 

 the sea. It is this plenitude of insect life that makes 

 the water of brooks impure and disagreeable; and 

 which, for culinary purposes and for drinking, causes 



