18 FIRST FORMS OF VEGETATION. 
visible organism vanishing from our view with the 
same Divine glory upon it, as the last star that 
glimmers out of sight on the remotest verge of 
space. 
These organisms further justify their existence 
to the utilitarian, inasmuch as their study is well 
calculated to exercise an educational influence 
which should not be overlooked or despised. 
While they try the patience they exercise the 
faculties by forcing attention upon details. Their 
minuteness, their general resemblance to each 
other, their want in many cases of very prominent 
or marked characteristics, render it a somewhat 
difficult task to identify them. Long hours may 
often be spent in ascertaining the name of a single 
species, and assigning it its proper place in the 
tribe to which it belongs. One species may often 
be confounded with another closely allied, and 
days and weeks may elapse before the eye and the 
mind familiarized with their respective details, 
can observe the distinctions between them. This 
difficulty of identification greatly sharpens one’s 
knowledge, induces a habit of paying attention to 
minutiz, and creates a power of distinguishing 
between things that differ slightly, which is ex- 
ceedingly valuable and important. For the eye 
and mind thus educated to detect resemblances 
and differences in objects, which to ordinary 
