FRESH-WATER ALG. 279 
Such is a brief and imperfect sketch of the his- 
tory and peculiarities of these wonderful fresh- 
water alg. They open up to us the infinitude of 
microscopic life, reveal a vast and glorious realm 
of new creative design, whose limits can never be 
fathomed, and whose mysteries can never be ex- 
hausted by man’s finite researches. It is not so 
much what they actually disclose that awes and 
astonishes us ; but the bewildering boundlessness 
of the unknown arcana beyond, to which they 
point. The vast additions which they have made 
to our knowledge, have only left the immensity of 
the universe of life greater and more mysterious 
than before. For it is all but certain, that if our 
vision could be made more piercing, and our instru- 
ments more perfect, while we explored onwards 
through the successive realms of the invisible 
towards the inmost shrine of nature, we should 
find new scenes of wonder and beauty continually 
unfolding themselves, and new fields of omniscient 
display constantly revealing to us that God was 
still before us in all His exhaustless, creative 
energy, and that we saw but the ‘hidings of His 
power.’ 
