Massachusetts spy and Worcester advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1823-1825, 1823-11-05
RfeceLLarp.
ACCOUNT OF A CARNATIoN VIEWED
THROUGH A MICROSCOPE.

From an elegant bouquet Iselected
carnation, the fragrance of. which led
me to enjoy it frequently and near.
The sense of smelling was not the only
one affected on these occasions; while
that was satiated with the powerful
sweet, the ear was constantly attacked
by an extremely soft but agreeable
murmuTing sound. 1t was easy to know
that some animal within the covert
must be the musician, and that the noise
must come from some little creature
suited to produce it. Instantly distend-
ed the lower part of the flower, and,
placing it 10 full light, could discover
troops of little insects frisking with wild
jollity among the narrow pedestals that
supported its leaves, and the little thread
that occupied its centre. What a fra
grant world for their habitation! what
perfect security from all annoyance in
the dusky husk that surrounded the
scene of action. Adapting microscope
to take in at one view the whole of the
base of the flower, | gave myself an
opportunity of contemplating what they
were about, and this for many days to-
gether, without giving the least distur-
bance. Thus | could discover their e.
economy, their passions, and their enjoy
ments. The microscope On this occa-
sion had given what Nature seemed to
have denied to the objects of contem-
plation. The base of the flower ex-
tended itself under its influence to a vast
plain; the slender stems of the leav es
became trunks ofso many stately cedars /;
the threads in the middle seemed col
umhs OF massey structure, supporting at
the top their several ornaments; and
the narrow spaces between were enlarg-
ed into walks, Parterres, and terraces.
On the polished bottoms of these, brigh-
ter than Parian marble, walked in pairs.
alone or in larger companies, the wing
ed inhabitants: these, from little dusky
flies, for such only the naked eye would
have shown them, were raised to glo-
rious glittering animals, stained with liv-
ing purple. and with a glossy gold, that
would have made all the labors of The
loom contemplate in the comparison.
l could at leisure, as they walked togeth-
er, admire their elegant limbs, their vel
vet shoulders, aud their silken wings ;
their backs vieing with the empyrean in
ats blue; and their eyes, each formed of
a thousand others. out-glittering the little
planes, and brilliant, above description,
and almost too great for admiration.
could observe them here singing out
their favorite females,-cour;ing them
with the music of their buzzing wings,
with little songs formed for their little
organs, leading them from walk TO walk
among the perfumed shades, and point
ing out TO their taste the drop of liquid
nectar just bursting from some vein with
in the living trunk. Here were the
perfumei groves, the more than myrtle
shades of the poets fancy, realized.
Here the happy lovers spent their days
m joyful dalliance; OF, in the triumph of
their little hearts, skipped after one an
other from stem to stem among the paint
ed trees; or winged their short flight
to the close shadow of some broader
leaf, to revel undlsturbed in the heights
Of all felicity.