The Microscope. 195 



Muscle and nferve miraculously spun, 

 His mighty work who speaks, and it is done. 

 Th' invisible in things scarce seen reveaPd; 

 To whom an atom is an ample field.' 



The microscope endows us, as it were, with a new sense: un- 

 folds the amazing operations of Nature, and displays to us won- 

 ders unimagined by former ages. Who, a thousand years ago, 

 would have thought it possible to distinguish myriads of living 

 creatures in a single drop of water? That the purple tide of life, 

 and even the globules of the blood, should be seen distinctly, roll- 

 ing through veins and arteries, smaller than the finest hair? That 

 not only the exterior form, but even the internal structure, and the 

 motion of the fluids in a gnat, should be rendered visible ? Or, that 

 numberless species of creatures should be made objects of vision, 

 though so minute, that a million of them are less than a grain of 

 sand? These are noble discoveries, on which a new philosophy 

 has been raised, that enlarges the capacity of the human under- 

 standing, and affords more subUme and just ideas than mankind 

 had before, of the infinite power, wisdom, and goodness of the 

 Great Creator. 



'The artificial convex will reveal 



The forms diminutive that each conceal; 



Some SQ minute, that, to the one extreme. 



The mite a large leviathan would seem; 

 ^ That yet of organs, function's sense partake, 



Equal with animals of larger make. 



In curious limbs and clothing they surpass 

 By far the comeliest of tKe bulky mass. 

 , A world of beauties ! that through all their frame 

 Creation's grandest miracles proclaim.' 



It was an observation of the excellent Mr. Boyle, that his won- 

 der dwelt not so much on Nature's clocks as on her watches. 

 And, indeed, if we compare the structure of an elephant with that 

 of a mite, we shall perceive the justness of his remark. With 

 whatever degree of surprise, or even of terror, we may at first 

 consider the huge bulk and prodigious strength of the elephant, / 

 we shall find our astonishment still greater, if we attentively ex- 

 amine the minute parts of a mite. The mite has more limbs than 

 the elephant; each of them furnished with veins and arteries, 

 nerves, muscles, tendons, and bones; it has eyes, a mouth, and a 

 proboscis too, as well as the elephant, to take in its nourishment, 

 a heart to propel the circulation of the blood, a brain to supply 

 nerves in every part, and other organs as perfect as in the largest 

 animal. Now, if the extreme minuteness of these parts is not 



