The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-08-07 00:00:00

MECHANICS' INSTITUTION.

LECTURES ON THE STRUCTURE AND HISTORY OF THE
ARTICULATED MOLL USCO US CLASSES OF ANIMALS.

On Wednesday, Robert E. Grant, M.D., F.R.S., London
and Edinburgh, F.L.S., F.G.S., F.Z.S., &c. &c., Pro-
fessor in the Rqal Institution of Great Britain and in -Uni-
versity College, London, commenced a course of eight
lectures at this institution upon the above noble and interest-
ing, theme. The Lecture room presented the same imposing

appearance which characterised it during the past season,
during the lectures of the most talented professors. The
back of the lecturer's platform was crowded with large and
well executed diagrams of the articulated animals referred to,
and without which it is impossible to give any thing approach-
ing to a perfect report of the doctor's valuable lecture. The
low tone in which he delivered portions of the lecture must
likewise be our excuse for the numerous imperfections which
our report contains. Enough, however, is given to convince
the reader of the high mental and scientific attainments of
the talented lecturer, and to convince him, especially if he
have access to a syllabus, of the importance of the remainder

of the course.
Of all subjects, perhaps, the most interesting are those
which are connected with the human frame, since it is only
by a perfect acquaintance with its internal mechanism that
we can hope to remedy the various evils that may befal it.
On this account so much attention is devoted to anatomy and
physiology, as connected with man and the higher animals
which live and breath around him. Of all the species of me-
chanism, and of all the phenomena submitted to our inspec-
tion in the material universe, nothing approaches to the
organs of the higher animals and of man. But were it not
that we have pieces of mechanism submitted to us in the
inferior branches of creation which are constructed upon
the same pure and general system, it would be impos-
sible to analyse the uses of some of the organs of man.—
These would remain a mystery to us, had we not a key
to them in some of the -humbler animals. If ever we
can hope to investigate the wonders of man's econo-
my, it will be by patient analyzation of the forms of those
creatures infinitely below him. A great interest is thus
concentrated upon the study of the anatomy of the
smaller kinds of beings, on account of their relation to the
being of man himself. We have in the inferior tribes pieces
of mechanism, which are not liable to constant improve-
ments. Every day we see men of genius devising improve-
ments in mechanism which was previously considered per-
fect, and which, in all probability, may be still far from
having reached it; but we never see this in organic nature.
There is no defect in the mechanism which we shall have
to consider, except that which arises from our own ignorance.
Everything is here perfect tor the purpose for which it was
created. Even those animals which approach so near iii
character to a vegetable, present us with organization which
still baffles all human inquiry. We can go to a certain de-
gree in examining the springs of their movements, but be-
yond that we never can penetrate. We should not say never
penetrate, because we are still advancing, and new things are
continually appearing to us, which we should never have
dreamed of discovering. In your former humble theatre, we
had the pleasure of calling your attention to a variety of
small beings floating. about on the surface of the -ocean,
called monads, and swimming about in such myriads- in the I
waters, that there are 150 millions contained in a single drop I
of water. They teem not only in the waters of the ocean, but
in every pool of water on the surface of the globe. When
these pools are dried up, the cavities which contained them
are encrusted with their animalculaz or animated dust, which
upon the return of water again resume their wonted ac-
tivity. This dust is carried about by the winds to every
quarter of the globe, and resting on the mountain top,
or in the depths of the vallies, is again quickened by the
rains from Heaven, and resumes its existence. Yet,
notwithstanding the minuteness of the animalculae, by the
the aid of optical instruments we can distinguish their sto-
machs and the various organs by which they are enabled to
sustain their existence. Minute as are these monads, they
perform an important part in the economy of nature. It is
not the great bulk of animals which renders them important
in the economy of nature. On the contrary it is generally in
the inverse ratio to their' magnitude that they are thus im-
portant. It was scarcely, a short time since, believed that
those very minute polygastric animalculae which swim in
such myriads in the waters of the ocean and the fresh waters
of the world had left their remains to us, in the strata of the
earth, but modern research has discovered that the tertiary
strata abounds in distinct organic forms which there has been
no difficulty in recognising as belonging to this class of ani-
malculm. The lecturer had himself examined rcany of them,
and had seen that they exactly corresponded in all their
peripheral markings with the animalculm now existing in
the waters. He had some of these specimens sent to him for
examination from Lapland, Germany, and various islands in
the Atlantic ocean. They- formed a soft friable sort of stratum.
In a part of Bohemia the skeletons were so minute that no
less than 40 thousands of millions were contained in one
cubic inch. It will thus be perceived that they are objects
of great minuteness, and that they require great magnifying
power, to enable the observer to decide that there is no fallacy
in the conclusion. There are several species which do not

require such high magnifying power, and some of the living
forms had been carefully washed by the lecturer for several
weeks in nitric, muriatic and sulphuric acid, and he could
thus plainly discern their siliceous structures and compare
them with the extinct species. The strata in Bohemia com-
posed of these siliceous animalculm is 14 feet in vertical depth,
and it is impossible to say how far it extends and whether it
may not encircle the globe. This discovery opens to us ideas
perfectly new, for a short time since it was not known to
any geologist that animalculm had left any such strata. Mi-
nute as these animalculm are, they have contributed to form
a most useful part of our new strata. You will observe also
that the corals are of great abundance and importance in
nature. The animalculm are important in the economy of
nature; they pave the bottom of the sea with carbonate of
lime, and serve to fill up valleys in the sea, which are after-
wards to be upheaved by volcanic agency to form future
rocks. We formerly directed your attention to certain ani-
mals, the medusas, which are the soft gelatinous masses that
we see floating in every salt-water river and ocean through-
out the globe. These soft, transparent, gelatinous, stinging
animals are apparently very inert, but they are capable of
swimming by their own efforts, and are gregarious. They
have eyes to guide them in their motions, muscles to cause
those motions, and a nervous system. They are the food of
higher animals, and themselves prey upotrsinaller animal-
culee, and the minutes crest acem. They are not fixed to
one spot like the corals, but capable of locomotion. We
nhsarve that where sts.ssia._—__,nirssels are free, anti capable or
moving about spontaneously, in order that they may obtain
that kind of food which swims along with them through the
waters, they are necessarily light—they are not weighed
down by the heavy coverings of the crustaceous animals.
They are entirely naked, so that they may swing with great
latitude in smooth water. There are many, however, of the
sadiated animals which remain almost permanently at the
bottom of the sea, and consequently exposed to the Moving
masses of stones and gravel which that great element is con-
stantly rolling to and fro. The echinoderm, therefore, have
a solid-covering. They form a striking contrast to the sea
nettles, which swim freely tbrough the waters. We cannot
go through all the radiated tribe of animals, but there is one
circumstance attending them of importance, which is, that
the axis of the body in the radiata is vertical, and the mouth
is directed downwards. In the sea urchin, the mouth is
downwards in a vertical axis.
The great subdivision of the animal kingdom which comes
next to the radiated is the articulated. the reason of the
term will be very obvious by looking at the lobster. We can
distinctly see that the trunk of the body is jointed or articu-
lated, so as to enable the animal to creep iutnall those rocks
in which the animal is destined to live. We find that the
common earth worm is articulated. There is a tribe of ani-
malcule; of great minuteness belonging to this division, which
is to be found solely in water. The articulated animals creep
along in an horizontal position with their trunk, whether they
have the soft form of the worm, or the more protected one of
the crab and the lobster. They creep along upon their belly,
or that Part in which the spinal curd is deposited. This cor-
responds to our back, or thedorsal part of a fish. Thus these
animals appear to be inverted or upset. If we open a lobster,
we shall see the heart in the middle of the back. This is are
markable condition of the articulated tribe, which appears to
prove that they are inverted creatures.
The wheel animalcules belonging to this division are en-
tirely equatic, smimming in the waters of the ocean, and in
greater numbers in fresh water. They are confined to no
latitude on the face of the earth. They are all extremely
minute, indeed the name animalculm will indicate that they
are beings of extreme minuteness. They possess a compli-
cated nervous system, and gifted with distinct veins, with
blood running through them. They have large and powerful
muscles which we can count the fibres of, and see in ac-
tion. The wheel animalculM occur in such vast abundance,
that they obviously serve some important purpose of nature.
The doctor then proceeded, by the aid of his excellent dia-
grams, to give a lucid and powerful explanation of the
anatomy and physiology of this tribe of animalculm; which it
would be impossible for us to attempt a description of. Their
bodies are transparent as the purest crystal, so that we need no
cutting to see into their action of their different organs, but sim-
ply place them in a powerful microspope between two plates
of mica. The mechanism of their vibratile cilia is yet unknown,
although we meet with them so large that they may be seen
by the naked eye. We have them in the human lungs, and
they are the last parts of the human system which cease
their activity. They have been observed vibrating in the
human lungs thirty-eight hours after life; Itis a- mistaken
notion to suppose that these cilia deciibe a circular motion,
they move in waves, although apparently they revolve,
whence the name wheel animalculm. They are furnished
with distinct organs of vision, which, in all probability
minute though they are, possess the crystalline lens, vitre•
ous humour, and all the other adjuncts of the human eye.
Near the muscular masses which supply the power of the
vibratile siria is a large circular muscular mass, containing
the teeth of the animalculm, it is in fact, a pharynx. The
teeth move transversely, and are in incessant activity.
The water which .flows through the pipes in cities, abounds
in wheel animalculm• You may easily distinguish them by
their graceful waltzing motion. It is only given to man to
discover such animation, when he is polished by the arts and
sciences, and thereby released Iroin the trammels of igno-
rance. It is only given to us to prove the richness, of nature
when we have laboured hard in the fields of science, and'
cultivated the mind so as to raise it above vulgar preju-
dices. Then we can see animalcule: in fluid, which to ordi-
nary observers would appear homogenous and pure. When
these animalculm sink down, they come to the surface of the
sediment, and do not sink into it. Of all creatures these,
along with the poligastrm tribe, are the most liable to de-
struction from the drying up of the waters which contain
them. They are the food of animals higher in the scale,
which would perish if these animalculm were destroyed from
the face of nature. There is no link which can be removed
from the grand chain of nature without the destruction of the
whole. If such a thing took place, the universe must be
altered. If we remove this important link, what myriads of
beings would immediately perish ! But although of all
creatures these are the most liable to destruction, which
would seem to indicate a defect in nature, yet when rain
falls upon the slates of a house it quickens and carries
along with it millions of them: indeed naturalists gene-
rally look for .them in the spouts of houses. When
drought comes, where do they go ? DO they dissolve
into jelly, or do they pass into air ? Neither. It has
been proved by experiments that they can be dried and kept
for a long time in that state, without loss of vitality; for,
upon re-immersion in water, they immediately move about
with all their pristine vigour and activity. This experiment
has been performed by numerous easeful observers,—nay,
Spallanzani kept some of the species in the dried state for
three years, and, upon moistening them at the expiration of
that time, found that they were again endowed with life
Of all creatures known these are the most tenacious of life
This tenacity of life is a gift which compensates for all the
accidents to which they are exposed. And so it is with all
nature : the more we contemplate it, the more we have cause
for wonder and admiration!

PARLIAMENTARY REGISTRATION.—TO LODGERS.—Per-
sons, although lodgers, who use a part of their premises, even
an attic, kitchen, or cellar, as a shop, workshop, warehouse,
store-room, or counting-house, if worth four shillings a week
or £lO. a year. are entitled to vote for members of parliament
in cities and boroughs. Any lodger who pays this amount
of rent has also the right, if his landlord do not sleep on the
premises, or if the lodger has a separate entrance or the con-
trol of an outer door, or occupies a separate building. It is
only necessary in all these cases that the lodger should re-
quire one of the overseers to put his name on the poor rate-
book, and any payment afterwards made by him may be de-
ducted from the rent, as the landlord will, in consequence of
such claim to be rated, pay proportionably less. Where a man
rents a house, and the parish officers have rated the landlord,
the tenant will be entitled to vote after he has claimed to be
rated, or has got his name put on the poor rate. Every
tenant, although a lodger, who is liable to a yearly rent of
not less than £ao. is entitled to vote for the county, if his
premises do not confer a vote for a city or borough.