WONDERS OF THE MICROSCOPE. 
321 
In revealing the great fact that animal and vegetable tissues 
are principally composed of cells, and that all the functions 
are the result of the properties of individual cells, the micro¬ 
scope has laid the foundation of the true science of life. 
Space will not permit us to dwell upon the great and 
manifold interest of the endless variety of objects which come 
within the reach of every one; but if a knowledge of variety 
and delicacy of structure, beauty of form and colour, and the 
nicest transitions from genus to genus, and adaptations of 
means to particular ends, be in any way desirable, it may 
most surely be attained by the aid of the microscope. 
The rich and varied tints of the plumage of the birds are 
universally admired, and have been esteemed as their peculiar 
ornament; but place a butterfly’s wing under a microscope, 
and you will discover that nature has imparted to it a most 
lustrous beauty, multiplying the forms and diversif}dng the 
colouring of this kind of clothing beyond all parallel. The 
same may be said of thousands of insects, whose radiant 
beauties were shut from human ken till man’s God-given in¬ 
tellect invented the microscope. 
We admire and with reason the coats of quadrupeds,whether 
their skins be covered with pile , wool , or fur ; yet are not 
perhaps aware that a vast variety of insects are clothed with 
all these varieties of hair, but infinitely finer and more silky in 
texture, more brilliant and delicate in colour, and more va¬ 
riously shaded, than any with which the larger animals are 
endowed. Many she has also armed with glittering mail, which 
reflects a lustre like that of burnished metal; in others she 
lights up the dazzling radiance of polished gems. What 
numbers even outvie the charming offspring of Flora in their 
various beauties as seen in the delicacy and variety of their 
colours, colours not like those of flowers evanescent, but fixed 
and durable, surviving with undiminished adornment, even 
after death. Nor has nature been lavish only in the apparel 
and ornament of these privileged tribes; in other respects 
she has been equally unsparing of her favours. To some she 
has given horns , counterparts, as it were, of those of various 
quadrupeds—the bull, the stag and the rhinoceros. One is 
armed with tusks not unlike those of the elephant, and another 
is bristled with spines as the porcupine with quills. We are 
also admitted to the most sacred recesses of nature, and become 
acquainted with the modus operandi by which the various insects 
emit their sounds and perform their most delicate offices. 
Thus we see the cricket rasping with its fde } the grasshopper 
beating with her drum , and the spider weaving with its 
comb . We might multiply these illustrations indefinitely. 
xxxii. 43 
