50 



LIFE, IN lit LOWER FORMS. 



these, place them, with some clear water and a fragment 

 of some plant, in his phial, and hasten home. He will 

 have obtained a creature which, about a century ago, 

 electrified the scientific world, and opened up a new and 

 most marvellous chapter in the history of Life. It is the 

 Fresh- water Polype {Hydra viridis). 



The invention of the microscope had given an immense 



impetus to natural 

 science ; and a gal- 

 axy of illustrious 

 men had by its 

 means been an- 

 nouncing wondrous 

 facts, the records of 

 which fill the pages 

 of the Philosophical 

 Transactions of our 

 own Royal Society, 

 as well as many 

 works of great merit 

 specially devoted to microscopy. But yet, when, in 1 744, 

 Abraham Trembley of Geneva declared what he had seen 

 of this little fresh-water animal, this living ball of green 

 jelly, it w T as regarded as a thing incredible, and even im- 

 possible. The facts " w T ere so contrary to all former ex- 

 perience, and so repugnant to every established notion of 

 animal life, that the scientific w 7 orld w T ere amazed; and 

 while the more cautious among naturalists set themselves 

 to verify what it was difficult to believe, there were many 

 who looked upon the alleged facts as impossible fancies. 

 The discoveries of Trembley were, however, speedily con- 



Hydra viridis — (not. size magnified.) 



