THE SUM-DEW TKIBE. 83 



secreted, forms one of the most beautiful of objects 

 for the microscope. Let us take a single hair, and 

 place it under a magnifying glass, taking care to 

 throw upon it from above a strong reflected light, 

 and using the precaution of cutting off all the rays 

 that come from below. You will now see that what 

 seemed a little hair with a drop of water at its point, 

 is really a long curved horn, transparent and glittering 

 like glass ; delicately studded from top to bottom with 

 sparkling points ; beautifully stained \Adth bright green 

 passing into pink, and mellowing into a pale yellowy as 

 if emeralds, rubies, and topazes had been melted, and 

 just run together without mixing ; and finally tipped 

 vdth. a large polished oval carbuncle, or ruby of the 

 deepest die (Jig' 3.). In this there is no exaggera- 

 tion ; for what tints can possibly represent the bril- 

 liancy of vegetable colours, except those of the purest 

 and noblest of precious stones ? 



If you observe this organ a little more carefully, you 

 will remark a number of faint streaks running side by 

 side from its lower to its upper end, and interrupted at 

 brief but pretty regular intervals, by exceedingly short 

 transverse lines. These marks are external indications 

 of the cells that the organ is composed of ; and if you 

 take the trouble to compute the number of such cells 

 required to form it, you will find that there must be at 

 least two thousand such cells in each of these little 

 horns. Every one of such cells is continually absorbing, 

 and secreting, and digesting the fluids that pass into it 

 from the leaf, or fi'om the air ; so that for the due per- 

 formance of the office of such a minute body as a hair 



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