Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1856-06-06

ms Astronomical discourses, alludcs finely to
the microscope as demonstrating Divine
wisdom in the lower walks of creation, as
conclusiyely as the telescope unfolds it in the
wonders of the heavens. The laminp of a
microscopic insect proclaim the existence of
an all-wise and omnipotent Creator. The
following extract from the Excelsior, an En-
gIish journal. gives an insight into some of
the maryels of insect world
" The muscular strength Of insects is i'm
mense We once were surprised by a common
beetle in the United States We had put the
insect, for want of any box at hand beneath
a quart bottle full of milk upon a table. the
hollow at the bottom allowing him room to
stand upright. Presently to our surprise,
the bottle began slowly to move and glide
along the smooth table, propelled by the
muscular power OF the imprisoned insect, and
continued Tor some time to perambulate the
surface, to the astonishmcnt Of all who wit
messed it. The weight of the bottle and its
contents could not have been less than three
pounds and half while that of the beetle
was about half an ounce, SO that it readily
moved weight 10 times exceeding its own
a better notion than figures can convey, will
be obtained of this feat by supposing lad
OF fifteen to be imprisoned under the great bell
OF St. Paul ;, which weighs 1000 pounds,
anu " ulONcu IL 10 anu lTO upon II smooth
pavement by pushing within.
" Mr., Newport has gwen other instances
of insect power equally remarkable. Having
once fastened a small kind of CdrdjuS, an
elegantly formed ground beetle, weighing
three and half grains, by a silk thread to
piece OF paper, he laid a weight on the latter.
vt distance of ten inches from its load the
insect was able to drag after it, upon and in
clncd place of twenty-five degrees, nearly
eighty-iivc grains; but when placed on plane
Of five degrees inclination it drew after it one
pound and twenty-five grains exclusive of
'he friction to be overcome in moving its load,
as though Il man were to drag up hill OF
similar inclination n wagon weighing two
tons and half, having first taken the wheels
off.
According to the same excellent authority,
the stag beetle-LuCanuS ccrruS-had been
known to gnaw a hole an inch in diameter
through the side of an iron canister in which
1t was confined, and on which the marks of
its jaws were distinctly visible, as proved by
Mr.. stephens, who exhibited the canister at
one of the meetings Of the chronological So
ciety.
Let us look at the powers of insects cxer-
ciscd in the act of flying. The house flies
MuSca domosHca-that wheel and play be-
meath the ceiling for hours together, ordina-
rlly move at thc rate oil about I'VE feet per
second but if excited to speed, they can dart
along through thirty-iivc feet in the same
| brief space Of time. Now in this period as
Kirby and Spence observe, a race-horse could
clear only ninety feet, which is at the rate of
more than mile in n minute. Our little fly
in her swiftest flight, will 20 more than a
third of "A mile. Now compare the immense
| difference of the size of the two anmals-ten
millions of flies would hardly counterpoisc one
racer-and how wonderful will the velocity of
this minute creature appear Did the fly
| equal the race horse in size, and retain its
powers in the ratio of its magnitude, it would
traverse the globe with the rapidity OF light
ming. Some of the flies that haunt our gar
dens shoot along SO rapidly that the eye can
not follow them in flight.
Nor are these tiny creatures less masters OF
the arts of running and leaping. DcLisle
mentions n fly so minute as almost to be in
visible, when ran nearly six inches in a sec
ond, and in that space was calculated to have
made one thousand and eighty steps This
according to the calculation of Kirby and
| Spence, is as if n man whose steps measured
only two feet, should run at the incredible
rate of 90 miles in n minute.
Every one has had occasion to observe, not
always without an emotion of anger, the
leaping powers Of the ilca-PuliI irritdnS
\ bound of two hundred times its own length
is n common feat, as if man should iumI
twelve hundred feet, or quarter Of mile
What pity that insects were not allowed t,
be competitors in the athletic games Of old