92 
THE OCEAN WOULD. 
animal, that these animalcules abound. Armed with a microscope, tk® 
reader may, with very little trouble, afford himself the pleasure ^ 
studying these animals. It is only necessary to place some orgaiik 
debris — the white of an egg, or some grass, for example — in a vas f 
with a large mouth, tilled with water, and expose it to the light and 
air. Certain reagents, as phosphate of soda, the phosphates, nitrates, 
or oxalates of ammonia, or carbonate of soda added to these inf 11 ' 
sions, will singularly favour the development of Infusoria. 
There are also some accidental infusions which seem to furnish 
these microscopic beings in great abundance. Water which stagnate 
in garden soil or in vegetable mould, in the watering-cart or in 
flower vases, is filled with myriads of these beings. 
So much for the medium in which they live, move, and have thei* 
being. Let us pass on to their organization. We have already dvveh 
on their extreme minuteness ; their mean size is the mere fraction, 11 
fifth ot the twelfth part of an inch ; the largest species scarcely reve^ 
themselves to the naked eye. They are generally colourless ; some o* 
them are, nevertheless, green, blue, red, brown, and even blackish. Bee 11 
on the object-glass of the microscope, they appear to be gelatinous, trauS' 
parent, and naked, or invested with an envelope more or less resistanb 
which we shall designate after Dujardin by the term Sareoda, a Silk 
stance which is homogeneous, diaphanous, elastic, contractile, and, abo' e 
all, destitute of every kind of organization. They are usually ovoid 
globular. Those most frequently met with, and which attract th® 
most attention from observers, are furnished with vibratile 
which cover the whole body, acting as paddles. These organs & te 
evidently intended to propel the animal from one place to another 
At other times they appear to be employed in conveying food to th® 
mouth, if we may use the expression. Some Infusoria are with* 111 * 
these cells, having only one or many very slender filaments, tb® 
undulating movement of which suffices to determine their progression 
through the liquid which surrounds them. 
Authors who have written on the Infusoria have sometimes, 
Leuwenhoek, Ehrenberg, and Pouchet, attributed to them a very coni' 
plex structure. Others, like Muller, Cuvier, and Lamarck, have co»' 
sidered them to be gifted with an organization extremely simple. 
shall probably find that the truth lies between these two extremes. 
