THE NATURALIST. 



AUGUST, 1832. 



THE MICROSCOPE. 



NO. II. 

 ACTIVE MOLECULES 



tn Organic and Inorganic Bodies, discovered by Robert Brown., 

 Esq. F. R. S. ^c. ^c. ^c. 



This indefatigable gentleman, in prosecuting his elaborate re- 

 searches into the vegetable kingdom, was le4 to infer (from cir- 

 cumstances connected with the in^restigation of the pollen of plants 

 suspended in water,) that the same active molecules might like- 

 wise exist in inorganic bodies; he has not been disappointed, hav- 

 ing succeeded in separating them from almost every known sub- 

 stance, such as minerals, glass, common dust, soot, <^*c. <^c.; in- 

 deed, the principal exceptions are oil, resin, wax, sulphur, such 

 of the metals as could not be reduced to that minute state of divis- 

 ion necessary for their separation, and finally bodies soluble in 

 water. 



The process of obtaining a satisfactory view of these minute 

 active molecules is exceedingly simple, and is as follows: with 

 the head of a pin place a small drop of distilled or filtered water 

 upon a sHp of glass, then apply the head of the pin (again dipped 

 in the water) to the substance from which the molecules are to be 

 separated, which is effected by a sHght friction: afterwards im 

 merse the head of the pin in the water upon the slip of glass, 

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