Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-02-09
Wonders of the Microscope.

THE revelations of the microscope are
so marvellous and unexpected that they
seem to place us on the bOrder-line of the
miraculous, so far are they not only be-
youd what could be reached by the naked
eve, but even by the widest range of inn
aglnation. A large field for the gratifica-
tion of inquirers in this department has
recently been opened by NJ. Pouchet, an
eminent French saCant in a work entitled,
"The Universe: or, The Infinitely Great
and the Infinitely Little" We learn from
him that it is possible to enlarge a sur
face So, eco, 600 times The microscope
has made astonishing revelations of the
physiology and habits of animalcules far
eluding our unassisted vision, 10000 of
which could be ranged along the length
of an inch, with organizations as compli-
Gated as that of man. OF their stomachs
20 are an ordinary allotment for one indi-
vidual, and these are all coated with teeth,
so that mastication and digestion consti-
tute almost one process. Minute as are
the blood-cavities for the circulation of
this fluid, they are fifty times as large and
strong in proportion, as the hearts of the
horse and OK. With so liberal a supply
of material furnished bye their numerous
(sometimes as many as 1907, constantly
working stomacks for the making
of blood, and its transmits
sion to all parts by such
powerful machinery, the vitality and
vital actions of these little beings must be
very great. There are no limits to their
range of existence, they being found alike
in the tropics and the polar regions, and
a more annoying feature in their history,
in the blood of man and other animals,
and in the fibers of our muscles, They
swarm in myriads in our mouths, for
tunate for us if they do not go farther,
and stop by forming with their skeletons
/ the tartar of our teeth. The animalcuies
| are not, therefore, to be found in infusions
| only, and NJ Pouchet properly objects to
the name "infusoria and he prefers call
1 ing them "microzoa" or 'protOZoa. They
belong to several different orders, the in
dividuals of which have little in common
except extreme minuteness. The more re-
markable, if we look to the practical re-
suits of their industry, are those microzoa,
which possess the power of extracting
silica or lime out Of sea water to form their
skeletons. To find the great work per-
formed by the infinitely little we have
only to look as the result of this manu-
facture or elimination, at the extensive
chalk and much of the siliceous strata of
the globe, in, for instance, the tripolis
of Bohemia and the Isle of France. We
NAV regard these vast accumulations,
whether made on the land or at the depths
of the ocean, as but the cemeteries of
animalcules millions of whose cOrpses
would not have made up cubic inch.
Under certain circumstances the organic
portions do not readily pass away, but
form certain soils which contribute to the
nourishment of man. OF these are the de-
posits of mountain meal of Lapland, of
Degerner in Sweden, of Ebsdorf in the
Luxembourg Heath, and of Santatlora in
Tuscany Hundreds of wagon loads of
this mountain meal are annually consum-
ed in Sweden. Minute polypi, or sea
anemones each one Of which is not larger
than pins head, are architects of islands
and reefs, some of the latter a thousand
miles in length. The same learned and
ingenious exhibitor introduces to our
/ notice the monads, true atomic bodies OF
which drop of water sometimes contains
, more than there are inhabitants on the
, earth. In the same easy and popular
! manner he places before his readers the
marvels of the insect world and the vege-
table kingdom, the geology and atmos-
/, phere Of the earth, and the sideral uni
verse; PhilddelphtG Ledger.