Turning then to the diagram (Fig. 6) I will describe it as I hope you will see it under the microscope—a curious, tiny, perfectly transparent open-mouthed vase standing upright on the weed, and having an equally transparent being rising up in it and waving its tiny lashes in the water. This is really all one animal, the vase hc being the horny covering or carapace of the body, which last stands up like a tube in the centre. If you watch carefully, you may even see the minute atoms of food twisting round inside the tube until they are digested, after they have been swept in at the wide open mouth by the whirling lashes. You will see this more clearly if you put a little rice-flour, very minutely powdered and colored by carmine, into the water; for you can trace these red atoms into some round spaces called vacuoles which are dotted over the body of the animal, and are really globules of watery fluid in which the food is probably partly digested.

You will notice, however, one round clear space (cv) into which they do not go, and after a time you will be able to observe that this round spot closes up or contracts very quickly, and then expands again very slowly. As it expands it fills with a clear fluid, and naturalists have not yet decided exactly what work it does. It may serve the animal either for breathing, or as a very simple heart, making the fluids circulate in the tube. The next interesting point about this little being is the way it retreats into its sheltering vase. Even while you are watching, it is quite likely it may all at once draw itself down to the bottom as in No. 2, and folding down the valves w of horny teeth which grow on each side, shut itself in from some fancied danger. Another very curious point is that, besides sending forth young ones, these creatures multiply by dividing in two (see No. 3, Fig. 6), each one closing its own part of the vase into a new home.

There are hundreds of these Infusoria, as they are called, in my pond, some with vases, some without, some fixed to weeds and stones, others swimming about freely. Even in the water-trough in which this Thuricolla stands, I saw several smaller forms, and the next microscope has a trough filled with the minutest form of all, called a Monad. These are so small that two thousand of them could lie side by side in an inch; that is, if you could make them lie at all, for they are the most restless little beings, darting hither and thither, scarcely even halting except to turn back. And yet though there are so many of them, and as far as we know they have no organs of sight, they never run up against each other, but glide past more cleverly than any clear-sighted fish. These creatures are mostly to be found among decaying seaweed, and though they are so tiny, you can still see distinctly the clear space contracting and expanding within them.

But if there are so many thousands of mouths to feed, on the tree-like Sertulariæ as well as in all these Infusoria, where does the food come from? Partly from the numerous atoms of decaying life all around, and the minute eggs of animals and spores of plants; but besides these, the pool is full of minute living plants—small jelly masses with solid coats of flint which are moulded into most lovely shapes. Plants formed of jelly and flint! You will think I am joking, but I am not. These plants, called Diatoms, which live both in salt and fresh water, are single cells feeding and growing just like those we took from the water-butt, only that instead of a soft covering they build up a flinty skeleton. They are so small, that many of them must be magnified to fifty times their real size before you can even see them distinctly. Yet the skeletons of these almost invisible plants are carved and chiselled in the most delicate patterns. I showed you a group of these in our lecture on magic glasses, and now I have brought a few living ones that we may learn to know them. The diagram (Fig. 7) shows the chief forms you will see on the different slides.

The first one, Sacillaria paradoxa (b, Fig. 7), looks like a number of rods clinging one to another in a string, but each one of these is a single-celled plant with a jelly cell surrounding the flinty skeleton. You will see that they move to and fro over each other in the water.

The next two forms, a and c, look much more like plants, for the cells arrange themselves on a jelly stem, which by and by disappears, leaving only the separate flint skeletons. The last form, d, is something midway between the other forms, the separate cells hang on to each other and also on to a straight jelly stem.

Another species of Diatoma (Fig. 8) called Diatoma vulgare, is a very simple and common form, and will help to explain how these plants grow. The two flinty valves a, b inside the cell are not quite the same size; the older one a is larger than the younger one b and fits over it like the cover of a pill-box. As the plant grows, the cell enlarges and forms two more valves, one c fitting into the cover a, so as to make a complete box ac, and a second, d, back to back with c, fitting into the valve b, and making another complete bd. This goes on very rapidly, and in this plant each new cell separates as it is formed, and the free diatoms move about quite actively in the water.

If you consider for a moment, you will see that, as the new valves always fit into the old ones, each must be smaller than the last, and so there comes a time when the valves have become too small to go on increasing. Then the plant must begin afresh. So the two halves of the last cell open, and throwing out their flinty skeletons, cover themselves with a thin jelly layer, and form a new cell which grows larger than any of the old ones. These, which are spore-cells, then form flinty valves inside, and the whole thing begins again.

Now, though the plants themselves die, or become the food of minute animals, the flinty skeletons are not destroyed, but go on accumulating in the waters of the ponds, lakes, rivers, and seas, all over the world. Untold millions have no doubt crumbled to dust and gone back into the waters, but untold millions also have survived. The towns of Berlin in Europe and of Richmond in the United States are actually built upon ground called "infusorial earth," composed almost entirely of valves of these minute diatoms which have accumulated to a thickness of more than eighty feet! Those under Berlin are fresh-water forms, and must have lived in a lake, while those of Richmond belong to salt-water forms. Every inch of the ground under those cities represents thousands and thousands of living plants which flourished in ages long gone by, and were no larger than those you will see presently under the microscope.

These are a very few of the microscopic inhabitants of my pond, but, as you will confuse them if I show you too many, we will conclude with two rather larger specimens, and examine them carefully. The first, called the Cydippe, is a lovely, transparent living ball, which I want to explain to you because it is so wondrously beautiful. The second, the Sea-mat or Flustra, looks like a crumpled drab-colored seaweed, but is really composed of many thousands of grottos, the homes of tiny sea-animals.

Let us take the Cydippe first (1, Fig. 9). I have six here, each in a separate tumbler, and could have brought many more, for when I dipped my net in the pool yesterday such numbers were caught in it that I believe the retreating tide must just have left a shoal behind. Put a tumbler on the desk in front of you, and if the light falls well upon it you will see a transparent ball about the size of a large pea marked with eight bright bands, which begin at the lower end of the ball and reach nearly to the top, dividing the outside into sections like the ribs of a melon. The creature is so perfectly transparent that you can count all the eight bands.

At the top of the ball is a slight bulge which is the mouth (m 2, Fig. 9), and from it, inside the ball hangs a long bag or stomach, which opens below into a cavity, from which two canals branch out, one on each side, and these divide again into four canals which go one into each of the tubes running down the bands. From this cavity the food, which is digested in the stomach, is carried by the canals all over the body. The smaller tubes which branch out of these canals cannot be seen clearly without a very strong lens, and the only other parts you can discern in this transparent ball are two long sacs on each side of the lower end. These are the tentacle sacs, in which are coiled up the tentacles, which we shall describe presently. Lastly you can notice that the bands outside the globe are broader in the middle than at the ends, and are striped across by a number of ridges.

In moving the tumblers the water has naturally been shaken, and the creature being alarmed will probably at first remain motionless. But very soon it will begin to play in the water, rising and falling, and swimming gracefully from side to side. Now you will notice a curious effect, for the bands will glitter and become tinged with prismatic colors, till, as it moves more and more rapidly these colors, reflected in the jelly, seem to tinge the whole ball with colors like those on a soap-bubble, while from the two sacs below come forth two long transparent threads like spun glass. At first these appear to be simple threads, but as they gradually open out to about four or five inches, smaller threads uncoil on each side of the line till there are about fifty on each line. These short tendrils are never still for long; as the main threads wave to and fro, some of the shorter ones coil up and hang like tiny beads, then these uncoil and others roll up, so that these graceful floating lines are never two seconds alike.

We do not really know their use. Sometimes the creature anchors itself by them, rising and falling as they stretch out or coil up; but more often they float idly behind it in the water. At first you would perhaps think that they served to drive the ball through the water, but this is done by a special apparatus. The cross ridges which we noticed on the bands are really flat comb-like plates (p, Fig. 9), of which there are about twenty or thirty on each band; and these vibrate very rapidly, so that two hundred or more paddles drive the tiny ball through the water. This is the cause of the prismatic colors; for iridescent tints are produced by the play of light upon the glittering plates, as they incessantly change their angle. Sometimes they move all at once, sometimes only a few at a time, and it is evident the creature controls them at will.

This lovely fairy-like globe, with its long floating tentacles and rainbow tints, was for a long time classed with the jelly-fish; but it really is most nearly related to the sea-anemones, as it has a true central cavity which acts as a stomach, and many other points in common with the Actinozoa. We cannot help wondering, as the little being glides hither and thither, whether it can see where it is going. It has nerves of a low kind which start from a little dark spot (ng) exactly at the south pole of the ball, and at that point a sense-organ of some kind exists, but what impression the creature gains from it of the world outside we cannot tell.

I am afraid you may think it dull to turn from such a beautiful being as this, to the gray leaf which looks only like a dead dry seaweed; yet you will be wrong, for a more wonderful history attaches to this crumpled dead-looking leaf than to the lovely jelly-globe.

First of all I will pass round pieces of the dry leaf (1, Fig. 10), and while you are getting them I will tell you where I found the living ones. Great masses of the Flustra, as it is called, line the bottom and sides of my pool. They grow in tufts, standing upright on the rock, and looking exactly like hard gray seaweeds, while there is nothing to lead you to suspect that they are anything else. Yesterday I chipped off very carefully a piece of rock with a tuft upon it, and have kept it since in a glass globe by itself with sea-water, for the little creatures living in this marine city require a very good supply of healthy water and air. I have called it a "marine city," and now I will tell you why. Take the piece in your hand and run your finger gently up and down it; you will glide quite comfortably from the lower to the higher part of the leaf, but when you come back you will feel your finger catch slightly on a rough surface. Your pocket lens will show you why this is, for if you look through it at the surface of the leaf you will see it is not smooth, but composed of hundreds of tiny alcoves with arched tops; and on each side of these tops stand two short blunt spines, making four in all, pointing upwards, so as partly to cover the alcove above. As your finger went up it glided over the spines, but on coming back it met their points. This is all you can see in the dead specimen; I must show you the rest by diagrams, and by and by under the microscope.

First, then, in the living specimen which I have here, those alcoves are not open as in the dead piece, but covered over with a transparent skin, in which, near the top of the alcove just where the curve begins, is a slit (s 2, Fig. 10) Unfortunately, the membrane covering this alcove is too dense for you to distinguish the parts within. Presently, however, if you are watching a piece of this living leaf in a flat water-cell under the microscope, you will see the slit slowly open, and begin to turn as it were inside out, exactly like the finger of a glove, which has been pushed in at the tip, gradually rises up when you put your finger inside it. As this goes on, a bundle of threads appears, at first closed like a bud, but gradually opening out into a crown of tentacles, each one clothed with hairs. Then you will see that the slit was not exactly a slit after all, but the round edge where the sac was pushed in. Ah! you will say, you are now showing me a polyp like those on the sertularian tree. Not so fast, my friend; you have not studied what is still under the covering skin and hidden in the living animal. I have, however, prepared a slide with this membrane removed and there you can observe the different parts, and learn that each one of these alcoves contains a complete animal, and not merely one among many mouths, like the polyp on Sertularia.

Each of these little beings (a, Fig. 10) living in its alcove has a mouth, throat, stomach, intestine, muscles, and nerves starting from the ganglion of nervous matter, besides all that is necessary for producing eggs and sending forth young ones. You can trace all these under the microscope (see 2, Fig. 11) as the creature lies curiously doubled up in its bed, with its body bent in a loop; the intestine i, out of which the refuse food passes, coming back close up to the slit. When it is at rest, the top of the sac in which it lies is pulled in by the retractor muscle r, and looks, as I have said, like the finger of a glove with the top pushed in. When it wishes to feed this top is drawn out by muscles running round the sac, and the tentacles open and wave in the water (1, Fig. 11).

Look now at the alcoves, the homes of these animals; see how tiny they are and how closely they fit together. Mr. Gosse, the naturalist, has reckoned that there are six thousand, seven hundred and twenty alcoves in a square inch; then if you turn the leaf over you will see that there is another set, fixed back to back with these, on the other side, making in all, thirteen thousand, four hundred and forty alcoves. Now a moderate-sized leaf of flustra measures about three square inches, taking all the rounded lobes into account, so you will see we get forty thousand, three hundred and twenty as a rough estimate of the number of beings on this one leaf. But if you look at this tuft I have brought, you will find it is composed of twelve such leaves, and this after all is a very small part of the mass growing round my pool. Was I wrong, then, when I said my miniature ocean contains as many millions of beings as there are stars in the heavens?

You will want to know how these leaves grew, and it is in this way. First a little free swimming animal, a mere living sac provided with lashes, settles down and grows into one little horny alcove, with its live creature inside, which in time sends off from it three to five buds, forming alcoves all round the top and sides of the first one, growing on to it. These again bud out, and you can thus easily understand that, in this way, in time a good-sized leaf is formed. Meanwhile the creatures also send forth new swimming cells, which settle down near to begin new leaves, and thus a tuft is formed; and long after the beings in earlier parts of the leaf have died and left their alcoves empty, those round the margin are still alive and spreading....

If you can trace the spore-cells and urns in the seaweeds, observe the polyps in the Sertularia, and count the number of mouths on a branch of my animal fringe (Sertularia tenella); if you make acquaintance with the Thuricolla in its vase, and are fortunate enough to see one divide in two; if you learn to know some of the beautiful forms of diatoms, and can picture to yourself the life of the tiny inhabitants of the Flustra; then you will have used your microscope with some effect, and be prepared for an expedition to my pool, where we will go together some day to seek new treasures.

NOTES

Agassiz, J.L.R., naturalist, born in Switzerland, 1807; died, Cambridge, Mass., 1873. In 1846 he came to America, after having gained a high reputation in Europe, to deliver a course of lectures in Boston "On the Plan of the Creation," and met with such success that he spent the rest of his days there, declining an invitation to return to his native country and to Paris. In 1848 he was elected to the chair of Natural History at Harvard. In 1850-51 he went on an expedition to the Florida Reefs. In 1858 he founded and organized the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Cambridge—and, later on, went on his important voyage to Brazil. In 1872 he founded and organized the summer school of Natural History at Buzzard's Bay. He wrote "The Fishes of Brazil," "A Study of Glaciers," "Natural History of the Fresh Water Fishes of Central Europe," "Contributions to the Natural History of the United States" (unfinished), and with his wife, "A Journey in Brazil."

Ball, Prof. Sir R.S., English astronomer, born in Dublin, 1840. Was appointed Lord Ross's astronomer in 1865. Professor of mathematics and mechanics at the Royal Irish College of Science in 1873, and is now astronomer royal for Ireland. He is the author of "The Story of the Heavens," "Starland," etc., and is well known as a successful lecturer on astronomical subjects in this country.

Darwin, Charles R., English naturalist, born, 1809; died, 1882. He first formulated what is known as the principle of Natural Selection. In 1831 he went in the famous scientific voyage of the Beagle as naturalist, and afterwards published an account of it. He was one of the most thorough, careful, and painstaking scientific men of this or any age. He is the author of many famous books. "The Origin of Species," "The Descent of Man," "Insectivorous Plants," "The Power of Movement in Plants," "The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs," "Geological Observations on Volcanic Islands." "The Formation of Vegetable Mould" was his last published work.

Flammarion, C., famous French astronomer, born, 1842. He has written many popular works on astronomy, most of which have been translated into English. "The Stars," "The World Before the Creation," "Uranus," "Comets," "Popular Astronomy," are among his best known.

Holden, Prof. E.S., American astronomer, born at St. Louis, 1846. Lieutenant engineers, U.S.A., 1870-73; professor mathematics, U.S.N., 1873-81; director Washburn Observatory, 1881-85; president University of California, 1883-88; director Lick Observatory, 1888-98. Is a member of several learned societies of Europe. Is the author of a "Life of William Herschel," "A Hand-book of the Lick Observatory," "Earth and Sky," "Primer of Heraldry," "Elementary Astronomy," "Family of the Sun," "Essays in Astronomy," "Stories of the Great Astronomers," etc.

Huxley, T.H., English biologist, born, 1825; died, 1895. Went on an exploring expedition on the Rattlesnake, and devoted himself to the study of marine life. For his scientific researches he received many honors. His lectures were models of clearness, and he could simplify the most difficult subjects. He strongly advocated Darwin's views and evolutionist doctrines. His writings are numerous and many of them technical. Among some of the most popular are "Man's Place in Nature," his "Lay Sermons," "Critiques and Addresses," "American Addresses," "Physiography," "Science and Culture," "Lessons in Elementary Physiology," etc.

Kingsley, C., English clergyman and author, born, 1819; died, 1875. Wrote "Westward, Ho!" which every boy should read, "Hypatia," "Alton Locke," "Hereward the Wake," etc., and a charming book of travel, entitled, "At Last." His "Water Babies" is exceedingly popular, and his "Heroes" is a book much appreciated by the boys and girls alike.

Proctor, R.A., English astronomer, born, 1834; died, 1888. He was a very popular writer, and lectured on astronomical subjects in this country, and in England and her colonies. A memorial teaching observatory is erected in his honor near San Diego, Cal. He was a man of untiring industry, an athlete, a musician, and a chess-player. His books are numerous. Among them are "Half Hours with the Telescope," "Other Worlds than Ours," "Light Science for Leisure Hours," "The Expanse of Heaven," "The Moon," "The Borderland of Science," "Our Place Among Infinites," "Myths and Marvels of Astronomy," "The Universe of Suns," "Other Suns than Ours," etc.

Shaler, N.S., professor of geology at Harvard. Born Newport, Ky., 1841. Served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Instructor zoölogy, geology, and paleontology, Lawrence Scientific School, till 1887. Since then at Harvard. Is the author of "Kentucky a Pioneer Commonwealth," "The Story of Our Continent," "The Interpretation of Nature," "Feature of Coasts and Oceans," "Domesticated Animals," "The Individual," "Study of Life and Death," etc.

Thompson, Sir C. Wyville, English zoölogist, born, 1830; died, 1882. He conducted scientific dredging expeditions in the Lightning and Porcupine, 1868-69, and was the scientific head of the famous voyage of 68,900 miles in the Challenger for deep-sea explorations (1872-76). His books are "The Depths of the Sea," and "The Voyage of the Challenger."

Tyndall, John, English physicist, born, 1820. Began his original researches in 1847, when teacher of physics in Queenwood College. He and Professor Huxley visited the Alps together, and they wrote a work on the structure and nature of glaciers. It is impossible to detail the work he has done; but his inquiries and experiments in connection with light, heat, sound, and electricity have all had practical results. He is a popular lecturer, and devoted the proceeds of a lecturing tour in this country to founding scholarships at Harvard and Columbia Colleges, for students devoting themselves to original research. Among his books are "Glaciers of the Alps," "Mountaineering," "Heat as a Mode of Motion," "On Radiation," "Hours of Exercise in the Alps," "Fragments of Science," "The Floating Matter of the Air," and volumes on Light, Sound, Electricity, and the forms of water.

Wallace, A.R., English naturalist and traveller, born 1822; was educated as land surveyor and architect, but afterwards devoted himself entirely to Natural History. He explored the Valley of the Amazon and Rio Negro, 1848-52, and travelled in the Malay Archipelago and Papua, 1854-62, publishing the results of his explorations later on. He also wrote "Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection," "Miracles and Modern Spiritualism," "Geographical Distribution of Animals," "Tropical Nature," "Island Life," etc.

Giberne, Agnes, English author—living. Began to write at seven years old. Her first story for children was published when she was only seventeen. Her stories for children have not been so popular as her scientific writings, "Sun, Moon, and Stars," "The Starry Skies," "Among the Stars," "The Ocean of Air," "The World's Foundations," "Radiant Suns," etc.

Wilson, Andrew, English physiologist and lecturer, born, 1852. Is the author of "Studies on Life and Sense," "Leisure Time Studies," "Science Stories," "Chapters on Evolution," "Wild Animals," "Brain and Nerve," etc., and is a constant contributor on scientific subjects to the magazines and newspapers, contributing weekly "Science Jottings" to the "Illustrated London News"

WONDERS OF EARTH, SEA, AND SKY

SUGGESTIONS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING

Footnote 1: (return)

Copyright, 1884, by N.S. Shaler.

Footnote 2: (return)

During the cruise of H.M.S. Bull-dog, commanded by Sir Leopold M'Clintock, in 1860, living star-fish were brought up, clinging to the lowest part of the sounding-line, from a depth of 1260 fathoms, midway between Cape Farewell, in Greenland, and the Rockall banks. Dr. Wallich ascertained that the sea-bottom at this point consisted of the ordinary Globigerina ooze, and that the stomachs of the star-fishes were full of Globigerinæ. This discovery removes all objections to the existence of living Globigerinæ at great depths, which are based upon the supposed difficulty of maintaining animal life under such conditions; and it throws the burden of proof upon those who object to the supposition that the Globigerinæ live and die where they are found.

Footnote 3: (return)

I have recently traced out the development of the "coccoliths" from a diameter of 1/7000th of an inch up to their largest size (which is about 1/1600th), and no longer doubt that they are produced by independent organisms, which, like the Globigerinæ, live and die at the bottom of the sea.

Footnote 4: (return)

The slice given in Fig. 2 is from a broader-leaved form, U. lactuca, because this species, being composed of only one layer of cells, is better seen. Ulva Linza is composed of two layers of cells.