98 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
the two French naturalists, MM. Pouchet and Joly. Their vie''* 
have, however, made little progress ; they have, on the contrary, ^ 
with vigorous opposition from the generality of French naturalist 
and from most of the members of the Academie des Sciences of Pai' lS ’ 
who have raised their voices against a doctrine which is contrary to tb 0 
ordinary course of nature. In short, tire direct observations made up 0 ® 
the theory of “primitive generation” are as yet wanting in necessa 1 ? 
exactness ; those observers who profess to have witnessed the sudd ® 11 
origin of the minutest of the infusoria from elementary substan c£ * 
have in all probability overlooked the organic structure of tha ® 8 
elementary bodies. Hie wonderful changes of form undergone ^ 
many infusoria have their limits, and the laws governing them ha' ,e 
still to be defined. With the poet we may say : 
“ Grarnraatici certant et adkuc sub judice lis est.’’ 
Many of the Infusoria are subject to metamorphoses, and it b ® 9 
already been ascertained that certain species which have been c.° n ' 
sidered as distinct are only transition forms of the same specif 
depending on age. 
We know that it is common for insects to enclose themselves in p r ° 
tecting envelopes, and to remain for whole months shut up in this tb elf 
retreat, to all appearance dead. Similar facts have been observed & 
the Infusoria. We have even seen some of these beings surround^ 
strange bodies as if in a mass of jelly, forming a sort of living enveM^ 
around them. 
The average duration of life with them is only a few hours ; ^ 
certain species present, in relation to the duration of life, phenonie 1 ’ 9 
which arc only imperfectly known, but which never fail to excite 
surprise and admiration of the naturalist. By drying certain iin’ r 
soria with care, it is possible to suspend and indefinitely prolo^f 
its life. Thus dried, and covered with a powder, which shelters 1 
from every breath of wind, it may be carried to any given d lS 
tance, through any indefinite period of time — abandoned on sd 1 * 1 
ledge of rock, on a housetop, in the cleft of a wall, or under ^ 
capital of a column ; but let a drop of water approach it, and the doriu<‘ al 
being awakes immediately — the microscopic Lazarus springs a 
into existence : feeds and multiplies as before : and its life, suspend^ 
possibly for years, resumes its interrupted course ! 
