Min] AND SYMBOLS. 227 



made one by one as they are wanted for use. The hemisphe- 

 rical interior is ciliated, and hence the contents are maintained 

 in rapid rotation. These contents are the atoms of sedimentary 

 and similar matter which have been gradually accumulated in 

 the progress of the ciliary current ; and these, by the rotation 

 within the cup becoming consolidated, probably also with the 

 aid of a viscid secretion elaborated for the purpose, form a 

 globular pellet, which as soon as made is deposited, by a sudden 

 inflexion of the animal, on the edge of the tube or case at the 

 exact spot where it is wanted. The entire process of making 

 and depositing a pellet occupies about three minutes. We say 

 nothing about the other systems of organs contained in this 

 living atom the arrangements destined to subserve the pur- 

 poses of digestion, circulation, respiration, reproduction, loco- 

 motion, sensation, &c., though these are all more or less clearly 

 distinguishable in the tissues of the animal, which is as tran- 

 slucent as glass. For the moment, says Mr. Gosse, I ask 

 attention only to the elaborate conformation of organs which I 

 have briefly described, for the special purpose of building a 

 dwelling. No description that I could draw up, however, 

 could convey any idea approaching to that which would be 

 evoked by one good sight of the little creature actually at work 

 a most charming spectacle, and one which, from the common- 

 ness of the animal, and the ready performance of its functions 

 under the microscope, is very easy to be attained. It is 

 impossible to \vitness the constructive operations of the 

 melicerta without being convinced that it possesses mental 

 faculties, at least if we allow these to any animals below man. 

 If when the chimpanzee weaves together the branches of a tree 

 to make himself a bed ; when the beaver, in concert with his 

 fellows, gnaws down the birch saplings, and collects clay to form 

 a dam ; when the martin brings together pellets of mud, and 

 arranges them under our eaves into a hollow receptacle for her 

 eggs and young, we do not hesitate to recognise mind, call it 

 instinct, or reason, or a combination of both, how can we fail 

 to see that in the operations of the invisible animalcule there 

 are the workings of an immaterial principle 1 There must be a 

 power to judge of the condition of its case, of the height to 

 which it must be carried, of the time when this must be done ; 



