74 
THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
handiwork of the omnipotent One than are im¬ 
pressed on the infinitely small. The magni¬ 
tude, so vast that our powers of mind fail in 
attempts to comprehend it, makes no clearer 
revelation of God than does that which is so 
small that we are unable to measure diameter 
or circumference. Man could as easily make 
the great as he could fashion the small; and 
more easily, for the great might be only dead 
matter, but the minute lives. 
“ Before this lesson of Nature’s marvels is 
complete, on,e other member of the beautiful Vol- 
vocinas must receive a fitting mention—the Go- 
num pectorale^ or microscopic shield. There is 
now before the eyes a nearly square plate of 
hyaline, or jelly-like matter, enclosing sixteen 
minute green points. The body is constantly 
in motion, which is varied at almost every turn; 
now sidewise, oscillating, seesawing, or rotat¬ 
ing ; often with a sudden reversal of the move¬ 
ment. In the midst of these evolutions the 
body flies apart into sections of four green 
spots, and each one keeps right on in its inde¬ 
pendent life, beginning anon to repair the dam¬ 
age by restoring to each separated mass the 
original number of sixteen spots. 
