50 
LIFE, IN ITS 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-Wftter Polype ( Hydra viriclis ). 
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 
Hydra viridis— (net. size maffnifled.) WOrlvS of great merit 
specially devoted to microscopy. But yet, when, in 1744, 
Abraham Trembloy of Geneva declared what he had seen 
of this little fresh-water animal, this living ball of green 
jelly, it was regarded as a thing incredible, and even im- 
possible. The facts “ were so contrary to all former ex- 
perience, and so repugnant to every established notion of 
animal life, that the scientific world were 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- 
