18 



THE UNIVEESE. 



of animated existence, has been revealed in every spot to 

 which investigation could reach. The polar ices, the ele- 

 vated regions of the atmosphere, and the gloomy depths 

 of ocean, are peopled with living organisms; and every- 

 where their prodigious concentration astonishes us as much 

 as the infinite variety of their forms. 



£ 12J 



8. Inf\isoria found at the bottom of the Sea, seen with the Microscope.^ 



If the beautiful discoveries of Ehrenberg did not prove 

 the fact, who Avould believe that these tiny creatures, 

 whose minuteness evades the eye, possess more vital re- 

 sistance than the most vigorous animals? Where the 

 severity of the climate kills the most robust of the vege- 

 table world, where a few scattered animals pick up a pre- 

 carious existence, the delicate organism of the IMicrozoa 



^ Our illustration represents a sample of the mud from the bottom of the Ant- 

 arctic Ocean, and what remarkable ornamental forms it contains. More espe- 

 cially the large round section, 12, which looks like a sun with its I'ays, and is 



