MULTUM E PARVO. 



sumes extraordinary elegance, and is usually 

 marked with series of specks, which are either 

 knobs or pits, arranged in the most varied and 

 exquisite patterns. They may exist either as iso- 

 lated forms, or, more commonly, as united into 

 long chains, or other connected figures. These 

 are called Diatoms. They have spontaneous 

 movements, and hence they were considered, when 

 first discovered, to be animals; but the opinion 

 now generally prevails, that they are plants of a 

 very low grade. 



The influence of these tiny atoms upon this 

 world in which we live is almost beyond belief. 

 ''The whole bottom of the ocean," observed Dr. 

 Barclay Montgomery, "seems to be in a great 

 measure made up of these bodies. Sir John Ross 

 and other Arctic explorers speak of a large bank 

 called the Victoria Barrier, 400 miles long, and 

 120 mttet wide, composed almost entirely of in fu- 

 aoria. During the last week I was engaged in 

 examining a sounding from the bottom of the 

 ocean at the depth of 2000 fathoms, on the exact 

 spot where the Atlantic telegraph unfortunately 

 gave way; although the quantity was minute, 

 still 1 discovered a great number of interesting 

 forms. What is known as Tripoli powder in the 

 arts consists almost entirely of fossil deposits of 

 the siliceous coats of diatoms, which from their 

 hardness form an excellent means of polishing 

 metals; these fossil deposits are very numerous 

 and in great quantity in different parts of the 

 world. The town of Richmond, in the United 

 States, is built upon a stratum of these bodies 

 twenty feet in thickness; in California and Amer- 

 ica generally, in Bohemia, throughout Europe and 

 Africa, and even in our own country, we find sim- 

 ilar deposits, varying of course in the different spe- 

 7 97 



