468 Common Objects for the Microscope. 
little day in the primeval seas, then died, and sank to the 
bottom, there to accumulate for unnumbered centuries, till 
at last, ages before the advent of man upon our earth, the 
ocean bed was gradually upheaved, and the mountains of 
chalk that had been formed below the sea became dry 
land, preserving imbedded in them those relics of ancient 
life which the microscope has revealed to us. 
The microscope has also taught us, that a process pre- 
cisely similar is taking place in the existing seas, year after 
year, century after century, the hard shells of the oramznt- 
jera, and other minute animals that inhabit the water, to- 
gether with the silicious skeletons of Dzatomacee, are fall- 
ing to the bottom of the ocean, and forming there a soft 
deposit, destined, perhaps to be one day lifted up, either 
suddenly, by some terrific subterranean convulsion, or 
more probably slowly by a gradual pressure from beneath, 
till at last, in its turn it becomes dry land, to be inhabited, 
ages hence, by some new race of terrestrial beings. It is 
doubtless well known to our readers that the Atlantic 
Cable of 1865, when recovered last year from the depths 
of the Atlantic, was found to be covered with microscopic 
shells of beautiful form, and probably ere long both cables 
will be completely buried in the soft Atlantic ooze, safe 
from any injury save that which may be brought about 
by gradual and natural decay. 
But even for the amateur who knows little of pure 
science, and has not time or inclination to investigate the 
recondite problems of physiology, pathology, or geology, 
the microscope cannot but afford an inexhaustible fund 
both of rational amusement and instruction. Should he 
care only to look at that which is beautiful, and to admire 
the delicate patterns with which the most minute bodies 
are often marked, and the exquisite arrangement of the 
smallest parts of organisms, themselves so small as scarcely 
to be discernible by the naked eye, if he will but pursue 
his observations in a proper spirit, he must derive from 
them both profit and pleasure. In the vast domains of 
organic nature there is no class. of objects, however ap- 
parently insignificant, that does not furnish to the attentive 
observer abundant proofs of beautiful design, and a mar- 
vellous adaptation of means to ends. Some there have 
been, and probably some there are, men of profound 
learning and subtle intellect, who deny that such proofs of 
design demonstrate the existence of a Supreme Archi- 
tect and Creator of the Universe; they will tell us, per- 
