346 EVENINGS AT THE MICROSCOPE 



mouth of the Urchin. The little isolated patches of glassy 

 network continue to spread through the flesh of the disk, 

 until the whole forms one uniform structure, and consti- 

 tutes a series of plates. The mouth is that spot in the 

 centre over which the calcareous frame is last extended; 

 and it is first distinguishable by the appearance of five 

 glassy points, which soon develop themselves into the five 

 converging jaws, which we see forming such a curious 

 apparatus on the inferior side of the Sea-urchin. 



Actual observation has not traced the infant animal be- 

 yond the stage of the development; but specimens have 

 been taken by Professor Miiller swimming in the sea in 

 which scarcely a rudiment of the larva remained. They 

 had the form of round flattened disks, which freely moved 

 their spines and crawled about the sides of the vessel in 

 which they were kept, by means of their suckers, exactly 

 in the manner of the adult Urchin. 



Thus "ends this strange, eventful history"; and in re- 

 viewing it, one can scarcely avoid being impressed with 

 a sense of the majesty of (rod in these His humble works. 

 By what wonderful, what unexpected roads does He ar- 

 rive at the completion of His designs! and if such things 

 as these are only now bursting upon our knowledge, after 

 six thousand years of man's familiar contact with the in- 

 ferior creatures, how many more wonders may yet remain 

 to be unfolded, as science pursues her investigations into 

 the Divine handiwork! And yet, how does this and all 

 similar manifestations of power and wisdom sink into in- 

 significance before the grand marvel, the wonder of won- 

 ders, the great mystery of godliness that GOD WAS MANI- 

 FEST IN THE FLESH! We are surprised and delighted 

 when we see one creature change, as it were, into an 



