THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
59 
“ The devout investigator can clearly trace 
the hand of the all-wise and beneficent One in 
all these humble and obscure forms of life. To 
such quickened minds, the purpose which these 
watery resources subserve is not hard to com¬ 
prehend. In every frond of algae, however 
minute, there will be noticed, as will be men¬ 
tioned in the sequel, countless myriads of infu¬ 
sorial life feeding on these rich submerged pas¬ 
tures. These invisible forms of life are thus 
fed and fattened for others in a higher series, 
and these in turn for orders still more perfect, 
until, in the ascending scale, man becomes the 
rich inheritor of the wealth accumulated by so 
many plant and animal industries. 
“ Nor must the purpose which submerged veg¬ 
etation serves as a great conservator of health 
be passed unnoticed. Every pond and other 
body of still water would undoubtedly breed only 
contagion and death if its fell accumulations 
were not in some way counteracted. And how 
beneficently all this is provided for by these ob¬ 
scure forms of vegetation! It is a fact, famil¬ 
iar to all, that a body of water standing undis¬ 
turbed for any considerable length of time be¬ 
comes stagnant and unhealthy; but every one 
