The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1851-04-12
Life Everywhere.

The microscope has revealed to us some here.
tofore hiiden wonders, that while they increase
our stock of knowledge Inay some times make
our stonaches little uneasy; :or it is not yrry
comfortable To suppose that our frvorite acid may
be full of miniature dragonr pythons and snakes
or that the surface of delicate fl is a vast con.
tIpent Inhabited Uy worms in excellent condition
CT-but We viii say no more Q: the ua,aGlu, as
we anticipated dining again some day However
It It had not been for ths microscope, we should
not have known that The limestone 50 abundau
IN the west WAS once y mass uf iiyigg gtomls
that the cora, reef and coral islands were formed
hy the prolonged labor- Of countless insects. and
that the organization Of the most delicate plnnt,
and animals Is 50 perfect that it formed una If ii,
strongest Arguments IL favor oi the De.;ys eAi5
teucs.
With the aid of very perfect instruments, Dr.
EhrenHcrgh has made some Olthe NEST eXteusiy,
Researches yet attempted. An article from a for
ulSu Journal states, that in 1889 he instituted
special researches upon the form ofthe harhor o.
WI-mar, IN the Baltic The result Of his inve,tI
cations shows that from ore-twcntieth 10 one
fourth of the mass Of deposited mud consisted
Of living iutusoria in part and partly " the emp
ty OF dead onc- In this harbor it appears that
every week there is deposited upward ofg1l. OOl
pounds Of mud. Daring the last hon lre9 wear.
there have been deposited by the running water,
at tWi>mcr 3,2iOOOO hundred weight of til. mud
About oue-tenth Of this deposit consists on tho
average, uf ju.useral aRimalculpS AT Piilsu
VI Hagen found that citeu half the entire vo'um,
oI mud consists OF ulusor.L He calculated that
at this place not less than from 1900 Ia 1900
cubic metres ol pure microscopic organisms are
annually srpartcdfom the waters and deuo,itel
in the form Of mud. In the course Of century
this would form an accumulated deposit OF from
12OO-O 10 l,lioOO0 cubic metre. of inlu-or"
rock or Irlpull tone EhrenbIrga pursued his
inquiries with lis all revealing microscope upon
the mn OF the Nile, the f.lt.liiaiu- properties Of
which have for ages attracted the notice Of man,
kind In all the specimens he hns found tNa,
Ulusury uimacuIcs--bem.s OF microscopic .izo
-cNistln such vast abundance that there i. not
a particle of the sod l,f by the rttirin, waters
Of the size ofhrf 4 PIN. head which does not con
tain one, and frequently many, Of these animals
How striking the Idea thus fururhed to us! From
| time ImmcmorM 1t has bOeh customary to oattub.
uio much or the (ertlizing Influence Of these de.
posts to their chemical constituents derived iIoln
degraded rocks, or 10 decaying vegetable romain-
No: the microscope has told us. on the contrary
that 1t to neither Of these causes that this effect
l. chiefly attributable, hgt rather to the multitude
nous accumulation ufiutultely minute living form.
of animals lite, wholly unt.eeerniblc to the naked
eye in themselves, but in the mass constituting uo
Insignificant portion Of the solid ,uil. Truly it
i a humbIing thought for man--as year by year
he plies his huge drolgng machines sumnoniug
the AID Of steam, and the appliances Of mechnn
ism, to remove IN aggregation Of beings, thou
sands ul which could lie on the end ofhis finger
TO reflect that he is put to all this labor aud cost
by the most insignificant object in the who',
r
closes these particulars also seems TO promis,
to be Of service in the purposes of agriculture
The deposit of all rivera and irrigation are not
always successfully resortej to by the agricp
turist Probably this instrument woald iuorm
him whether The deposit in The mgdly waters Of
the river wc.s suited. o. otherwise, 10 the ncccs'
sites of hs fields.