The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1869-03-10
The Life of the Infinitely Little.

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The Life of the Infinitely Little.
lFrom the New York Mercantile Journal
Naturalists WHO have studied the arato .
my of insects have been greatly surprised
at not finding those little creatures provi.
ded with organus analogous to our respira.
tory system. But they have not been LEM
IN finding out that their exchange of ess.
eous elements with the atmo sphere vas
none the less active. In fact, the bodies
Of these infinitely small beings are penetra-
ted completely BY the vivifying Huid4a
mixture Of oxygen aud hydrogen-wlich
circulates through conduits and channels
formed with exquisite skill. e~e. az
has a breathing apparatus which is abeo-
lutely o model OF what our engineers might
have done to secure the distribution of wa
ter and gas in all our houses and in all our
cities. Imagine tubes formed of very deli
cate membranes, separated from each other
by Q thread twistea in spirals and endowed
With o sufieisut power Of resistance NOT tn
give way with their own weight. Their
perfection "a such in their very least details
that you would never grow weary of study
ing the ofi6ees that terminate them. You
would discover ct each one of these tiny
mouths . forest ct little threads or fla.
ments, arrunesd in such manner as to ar
rest the very fnest conceivable dust, thus
regularly 6ltering the air 80 a. not to allow
one Of the most minute notes that you can
see glittering In the sunbeam to pass.
These marvellous Hrac1ten, the diameter
Of which il but The smallest fraction of a
line, penetrate nil the innermost rscesses of
the NJ, and We should go bat little astray
were veto state that the body of the in
sect is but one complies lung, running,
!eaping. and flying about With the most
fearful epeed.
The laws Of natural philosophy are quite
sufficient t., establish . wonderful gradua-
ton between cause and effect, and so ex-
plain how this creature, infinitely diminu-
tive as it Is, can weld On energy Infinitely
great. While the insect is at rest, the sir
passes but slowly into its marvellous net.
work Of capillary tubes. But the moment
it begins to move the velocity Of the dis
placement Of its body angments the pene-
tration OF the fluid Masses of air which
are enormous in comparison with the iize
OF the insect pass through the interior Of
its breathing apparatus. > This is rather
different from us, who are put out Of breath
by running only short distance-the very
nimblest of rs. With the fly, motion feeds
motion. The most headlong fight only
puts the creature in the mood Of going
faster and faster eth. 1t is as though
something blew upon the Fl hat seems 10
run through ell its organs. The "sphinx"
becomes. burning hot as it .wlirls and
sweeps around flower, whereas when
standing still its Temperature scarcely exc
ceeds that Of the surrounding atmosphere.
1t is no matter for astonishment, then,
that all entomologists have spoken with
admiration Of the mechanical effects that
they hare seen during their researches.
A ny so small % to be almost invisible
was Observed BY Deveille to traverse a dis
lance Of i've inches per second, merely up
on its feet, and upon measuring the legs Of
this little racer, the conclusion, was come
to that it must have taken 1000 steps IN
that period OF time, which we look upon
- almost indivisible, since our astrono-
mers can scarcely assign a value to q part
Of its duration. Now, If our crack pesies-
trains could only make their. drumsticks
move SO rapidly as that they would dis
lance our very swiltest rnilyay express
trains. 49, - ,......,,,
The number Of motions with their wings
which insects can make lis quite as wonder
ful. Netiee the -blue.bottle,n whose wings
produce buzzing music 80 clear and audi
bic that you readi y marl the pitch oft,
and learn there y that it repre-, ems at
least six hundred vibrations per second.
..s.si.ai., ns ~ THE FLEA b. 80 81 asiris
can raise itself two hundred times its own
height at a single bound. n man could do
that. he would spring from 1000 to 1900
feet right up into the air, and, Therefore, to
skip over, Trinity steeple or the. whole
height and breadth of City, Hall would BE-
The meyest pastime to him.. Our prisons
and penitentiaries would have to be built
with rather lofty walls had we such flying
Irape5e-men TO cOnfne. bis ,q'sa1.
. We shalt not develop the spbject farther
from this point Of view, bearing in mind as
We do that passage in The Clouds where
Afistophanes rproaches S"crates with
losing his time on similar TRIES under the
pretence of iDstructing youth. Sill, pre-
cisely because we are not a Socrates, we
would give our little Aristophanes double
reason to make o similar remark, should
hey but deign to notice our llucubrations.
> But, let as put in Just one word which
will wound the vanity of no one but The
elephants- a naturalist has said that this
Earth would be too small for Us were we
endowed with vitality proportional to that
u insects, while retaining our present stat