PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS. 7 



two cubic feet of the Bilin polishing slate. In the sea, gela- 

 tinous worms, living or dead, shine like stars, ( 5 ) and by 

 their phosphoric light change the surface of the wide ocean 

 into a sea of fire. Ineffaceable is the impression made on 

 my mind by the calm nights of the torrid zone, on the waters 

 of the Pacific. I still see the dark azure of the firmament, 

 the. constellation of the Ship near the zenith, and that of the 

 Cross declining towards the horizon, shedding through the 

 perfumed air their soft and planetary lustre ; while bright 

 furrows of flashing light marked the track of the dolphins 

 through the midst of the foaming waves. 



Not only the ocean, but also the waters of our marshes, 

 hide from us an innumerable multitude of strange forms. 

 The naked eye can with difficulty distinguish the Cyclidias, 

 the Euglenes, and the host of Naids divisible by branches 

 like the Lemna or Duckweed, of which they seek the shade. 

 Other creatures inhabit receptacles where the light cannot 

 penetrate, and an atmosphere variously composed, but differ- 

 ing from that which we breathe : such are the spotted 

 Ascaris, which lives beneath the skin of the earthworm ; the 

 Leucophra, of a bright silvery colour, in the interior of the 

 shore Naid; and a Pentastoma, which inhabits the large 

 pulmonary cells of the rattlesnake of the tropics. ( 6 ) There 

 are animalculse in the blood of frogs and of salmon, and even, 

 according to Nordmann, in the fluids of the eyes of fishes 

 and in the gills of the Bleak. Thus the most hidden recesses 

 of creation teem with life. We propose in these pages to 

 direct our attention to the vegetable world, on the existence 

 of which that of animals is dependent. Plants are inces- 



