Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1847-03-25

still more remarkable; death then usually
takes place amidst nervous symptoms of eX-
IRENE violence, and comparable in their ra-
pldity to those that follow the introduction
of the most energetic poisons,
Our knowledge of the circulation of the
blood has also been greatly increased by the
microscope not only has a vascular system
and circulation been detected in many of the
lower animals, but we have also obtained sat
isfactory proof of the existence of minute
vessels, termed copiiL0rieS, connecting the
arterial and venous system III the higher
classes of animals The phenomena of the
passage of the blood from the Examinations
of the arteries into the commencement of
the veins through the capillary vessels. are
highly Interesting and finfU1tant - many
points of view; for the immediate reseirato-
ry change which the venous blood under
goes in the pulmonary vessels, and all those
alterations of composition which accompa-
ny nutrition, growth, secretion, and other
organic processes connected with the sys-
tematic vessels, occur in the smallest rami-
hcations of the pulmonic and systemic cir
culation, and the morbid state Of in1ammaa
ton, as well as the various pathological chan
ges which occur as its consequences, are in
timately connected with an altered condition
of the capillary system.
In plants, too, the microscope has enab-
led us to detect a circulation of the nutrl-
tive fluids, which is twofold-the one gen.
eral circulation of the cells the second,
termed cycl0SiS, which is a revolution of the
fluid contained in each cellule, distinct from
those surrounding it. This latter phenom-
enon, which is most remarkable, can be OBJ
served in all plants in which the circulating
fluid contains particles of a different reirac-
tive power or intensity, and the celules of
sufficient size and transparency. Hence all
lactescent plants, or those having a milky
Juice, with the other conditions, exhibit this
I phenomenon. The following aquatic plants
are generally transparent enough to show
the circulation i'll every part OF them Nj
tella hyalina, Nitella translucens, Chara vul-
garis, and CaHliHia tragilis
i Another curious phenomenon, entirely re-
vealed to us by the microscope, cannot be
: passed over in silence We allude to what
$ is termed by Psychologists, cILIARY MOTION.
, In previous portion ofthis paper we desert
bed the ella of the Tnftsory anlmalcules,
2 which in most species served them as organs
of locomotion and it will be further remem-
bered that Gutenberg gave the name of Ro-
4 tatoria to one class, from the peculiar ar
: rangement of these small filaments. Il was
d originally supposed that these minute organs
5 were confined to the lower forms of animals
e but further investigation has clearly shown
C that ciliary motion is a phenomenon which
prevails most extensively in the animal king
dom, having been found in the highest as
! well as the lowest members of the zoologj-
f. cal scale, IN man. not only cliiary i,3u,-
IT ton, but even the situation and form of the
IS ella have been discovered. The organs or
n parts of the body in which the ciliary mo-
= ton has been ascertaned to exist may be re-
l. ferred to four heads, viz, the skin or sur
Is face of the body, the respiratory, alimenta-
e ry, and reproductive systems; but it is only
n in the respiratory system, in the nose and
he larynx, that ella have been as yet detected
III in man. The function of these organs is to
n convey fluids or other matters along the sur
d. face on which the ella are placed, to renew
p the water on the respiring surface of animals
with aquatic respiration, or, as in the Infil-
m sorla, to carry the animal through the fluid.
v CONCLUSION.
or But to enumerate the whole of the dis.
to coveries effected by the microscope would
is require volumes. For our knowledge ofths
~ minute structure of the various organs in
VI piuhtS uhu anu vi tilC Dtduly anu
d. perfection of design exhibited thron -: f.
" the whole Of creation, we are entirely in
of debted to this instrument. In the present
es paper we have confined ourselves to Il brief
t. review of some of the most important of its
ir revelations made within the period of few
~ years. Its continued use and the research
in es of naturalists into the infnitude of the
st organized creation have been the means of
L. bringing to light great numbers ofliving be-
n ings, of whose existence, but a few years
" back, we had no reasonable proof From
of the chilly regions of the glaciers, with their
in coloured snow, to the pools of Egypt, with
IN their living forms from the waters of the
j, Cattegat TO the sunny waves of Mexico /;
I'd from the bergmehl of Finland to the brown
= mould of Newmarket; has the inquring
ID mind ofthe naturalist drawn evidence ofthe
2, all-pervading principle life Forms, from
S. whence the essence vitality has long since
J. departed, have given up their remnants from
&c the chalk, and beings invisible to the naked
rs eye of man have been summoned from their
lie entombments in their iinty sarcophagi The
a. chaos of old systematists has passed away,
lie and structure oftruth and beauty has been
I, formed from its heterogeneous materials. And
e while contemplating the discoveries effected
e ny the microscope and ITS elder SISTER, the
y telescope, we may indeed exciaim in the ell
IT oquent words of DIR. Chambers -
l. "While the telescope enables us to see
n system in every star, the microscope untolds
e to us a world in every atom. The one in
IS structs us that this mighty globe, with the
II whole burthen of its people, and its coun-
It tries, is but grain of sand in the vast field
9 of immensely; the other that every atom
i may harbour the tribes and families of a bu-
y sy population. The one shows us the insig-
h nifcance ofthe world we inhabit; the other
o redeems it from all its insignifcance, for it
= tells us that in the leaves of every forest, in
e the flowers of every garden, in the waters of
Il every rivulet, there are worlds teeming with
= life, and numberless as are the stars of the
r armament The one suggests to us, that,
If above and beyond all that is visible to man,
:, there may be regions of creation which
n sweep UNNECESSARILY along, and carry the
:, impress of the Almighty's hand to the re-
: hottest scenes of the universe; the other,
q that. within and beneath all the minuteness
q which the aided eye of man is able to ex-