In short, it may be affirmed without the least hesitation, that the beauties and varieties which exist in those regions of creation which are invisible to the unassisted eye are far more numerous than all that appears to a common observer in the visible economy of nature. How far this scene of creating power and intelligence may extend beyond the range of our microscopic instruments, it is impossible for mortals to determine; for the finer our glasses are, and the higher the magnifying powers we apply, the more numerous and varied are the objects which they exhibit to our view. And as the largest telescope is insufficient to convey our views to the boundaries of the great universe, so we may justly conclude that the most powerful microscope that has been or ever will be constructed will be altogether insufficient to guide our views to the utmost limits of the descending scale of creation. But what we already know of these unexplored and inexplorable regions gives us an amazing conception of the intelligence and wisdom of the Creator, of the immensity of his nature, and of the infinity of ideas which, during every portion of past duration, must have been present before his all-comprehensive mind. What an immense space in the scale of animal life intervenes between an animalcule, which appears only the size of a visible point, when magnified 500,000 times, and a whale, a hundred feet long and twenty broad! The proportion of bulk between the one of these beings and the other is nearly as 34,560,000000,000,000,000 to 1. Yet all the intermediate space is filled up with animated beings of every form and order! similar variety obtains in the vegetable kingdom. It has been calculated, that some plants which grow on rose leaves, in this condition, each of these swarms of animalcules began to grow weary of its situation, and had a mind to change its quarters. Both armies, therefore, set out at the same time, the one proceeding upwards and the other downwards; so that after some time they met in the middle. A desire of knowing how they would behave on this occasion engaged the observer to watch them carefully; and to his surprise, he saw the army that was marching upwards open to the right and left, to make room for those that were descending. Thus, without confusion or intermixture, each held on its way; the army that was going up marching in two columns to the top, and the other proceeding in one column to the bottom, as if each had been under the direction of wise leaders.

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and other shrubs, are so small that it would require more than a thousand of them to equal in bulk a single plant of moss; and if we compare a stem of moss, which is generally not above one-sixtieth of an inch, with some of the large trees in Guinea and Brazil of twenty feet diameter, we shall find the bulk of the one will exceed that of the other no less than 2,985,984,000,000 times, which multiplied by 1000 will produce 2,985,984,000,000,000, the number of times which the large tree exceeds the rose-leaf plant, Yet this immense interval is filled up with plants and trees of every form and size! With good reason, then, may we adopt the language of the inspired writers,-"How manifold are thy works, O Lord! In wisdom hast thou made them all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! Marvellous things doth He which we cannot comprehend.”*

* The figures of microscopical objects contained in the engravings Nos. I. and II. will convey a rude idea of some of the objects to which I have now alluded.

No. 1. Fig. 1, represents the scale of a sole-fish as it appears through a good microscope. CDEF represents that part of the scale which appears on the outside of the fish, and ABCD the part which adheres to the skin, being furrowed, that it may hold the faster. It is terminated by pointed spikes, every alternate one being longer than the interjacent ones. Fig. 2 is the scale of a haddock, which appears divaricated like a piece of network. Fig. 3 represents a small portion or fibre of the feather of a peacock, only one-thirtieth of an inch in extent, as it appears in the microscope. The small fibres of these feathers appear, through this instrument, no less beautiful than the whole feather does to the naked eye. Each of the sprigs or hairs on each side of the fibre, as CD, DC, appears to consist of a multitude of bright shining parts, which are a congeries of small plates, as eee, &c. The under sides of each of these plates are very dark and opaque, reflecting all the rays thrown upon them like the foil of a looking-glass; but their upper sides seem to consist of a multitude of exceedingly thin plated bodies, lying close together, which, by various positions of the light, reflect first one colour and then another, in a most vivid and surprising manner. Fig. 4, 5, 6, 7, represent some of the different kinds of feathers which constitute the dust which adheres to the wings of moths and butterflies, and which, in the microscope, appear tinged with a variety of colours. Each of these feathers is an object so small as to be scarcely perceptible to the naked eye.

Even the external aspect of nature, as it appears to a superficial observer, presents a scene of variety. The ranges

Explanation of the figures on No. II.-Fig. 1 represents a mite, which has eight legs, with five or six joints in each, two feelers, a small head in proportion to its body, a sharp snout and mouth like that of a mole, and two little eyes. The body is of an oval form, with a number of hairs like bristles issuing from it, and the legs terminate in two hooked claws. Fig. 2 represents a microscopic animal which was found in an infusion of anemony. The surface of its back is covered with a fine mask, in the form of a human face; it has three feet on each side, and a tail which comes out from under the mask. Fig. 3 is an animalcula found in the infusion of old hay. A shows the head, with the mouth opened wide, and its lips furnished with numerous hairs; B is its forked tail, D its intestines, and C its heart, which may be seen in regular motion. The circumference of the body appears indented like the teeth of a saw. Fig. 4 shows the Wheel-animal or Vorticella. It is found in rain-water that has stood some days in leaden gutters, or in hollows of lead on the tops of houses. The most remarkable part of this animalcula is its wheel-work, which consists of two semicircular instruments, round the edges of which many little fibrillæ move themselves very briskly, sometimes with a kind of rotation, and sometimes in a trembling or vibratory manner. Sometimes the wheels

seem to be entire circles, with teeth like those of the balancewheel of a watch; but their figure varies according to the degree of their protrusion, and seems to depend upon the will of the animal itself; is the head and wheels, b is the heart, where its systole and diastole are plainly visible, and the alternate motions of contraction and dilatation are performed with great strength and vigour, in about the same time as the pulsation of a man's artery. This animal assumes various shapes, one of which is represented at Fig. 5, and becomes occasionally a case for all the other parts of the body.

Fig. 6 represents an insect with net-like arms. It is found in cascades where the water runs very swift. Its body appears curiously turned as on a lathe, and at the tail are three sharp spines, by which it raises itself and stands upright in the water; but the most curious apparatus is about its head, where it is furnished with two instruments, like fans or nets, which serve to provide its food. These it frequently spreads out and draws in again, and, when drawn up, they are folded together with the utmost nicety and exactness. When this creature does not employ its nets, it thrusts out a pair of sharp horns, and puts on a different appearance, as in Fig. 7, where it is shown magnified about 400 times. Fig. 8 is the representation of an animalcula