The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-12-07
invisible Inhabitants Of the Ar.


"It is . fortunate thing that we can
not see better than we do,s q microsco
pist said, arranging plantation of con-
ferve on q slide.
"How sopn the visitor asked.
"Simply because some people would
be frightened to death by what they
saw, was the reply. ssSuppose, now,
that your eyes became suddenly highly
magnifying, you would be continually
dogging strange objects that would ap-
pear flying in the air--rough blocks shin
ing in the sun, wondrous animals and
vegetable shapes, masses of pollen, some
whirling around and circling in q vor-
tex caused by the rush of a fly, and
others m still places, arranged perhaps
in the air according TO their specific
gravity. In fact the space near the
earth would present most astounding
appearance, and many unexplained oc-
currences would be made plain There
is what might be called an atmospheric
fauEa-minute living creatures and
plants that from certain causes are
caught up, remaining for years in space.
1 have q collection of variety of these
forms, called diatoms, containing more
specimens than all the combined gen.
CL 1A COnCClAOLo VI Ill lilo AAAaoCN---Ao IL
the world, and. nearly four thousand
totally different kinds or species yet, q
walnut followed out holds them all,
with room for many more. Here Is
collection in the matrix, or IN the rough,
from the Bohemian deposit of Europe.
that is about fourteen feet thick. This
piece represents two cubic inches, and
contains eighty billions, each one weigh
ing about 1871, 900, ,000th parts Of 3
grain. These are fossil diatoms, but
they are equally common alive. Their
exact nature is unknown, but they may
be well described as vegetable crystals,
differing only from mineralsin havingthe
power Of locomotion. = The best author
tiles, however, consider. them animals,
but to all intents and purposes they
combine the three-animal, vegetable
and mineral They have an outside
skeleton of silica, and it is curious fact
that the singular lines seen on them are
also noticed on crushed silica deposited
from fuoride of silicon. These lines
have beer, measured, and are used to
test magnifying glasses. Here is one
specimen-the amphapleura-that has
130, 900 lines to the linear inch. The
specimens are all mounted on slides, by
what is called mechanical finger, that
picks up each shell and places it.where
desired. As many as you wish can be
arranged on the glass slide and num-
bered, referring to catalogue for its
name and history. Here are two slides
that contain about eighty specimens col
lected from one dust shower"
The visitor examined them through
the powerful glass, and where moment
before nothing was seen, wondrous
forms appeared, some like an open pea
pod, dehcately partitioned. Such was
the Epithenad. Others were round and
delicately radiated, and had a gigantic
name, as the C0scinodiscus. As a rule,
the smaller the specimens the longer
were their names. The different kinds
were marked and sculptured with curl
Gus ribs, concayities, bosses, lines and
curves, ridged and ornamented in q
manner truely astonishing in such mi
mute objects. Entire areas of land and
ranges of mountains are made up of
the fossil shells of these smallest of ami
NAL creatures piled together. Existing
in such quantities, they are easily caught
up into the air and kept there by con-
fiicting currents, occasionally falling in
immense clouds. Near Lyons, in 1876,
q shower of dust fell to the earth, and
q careful estimate showed that forty
five tons of these creatures had fallen
from the clouds, representing number
so vast that the human mind could not
begin to grasp millionth part of it.
Diatoms are not the only fossil ami
mails that are blowing about in midair.
The we'll chemist, DIR. Phipson,
found in examining atmospheric dust
that among the many-shaped mineral
fragments were numbers of exceedingly
small and spherical bodies. Subjecting
them to white heat, in contact with air
and that of hydro-chloric acid, they re-
tanned their forms intact and were
transparent. Living diatoms entirely
disappeared under this treatment, and
DIR. Phipsen came to the conclusion that
the minute silicious forms were fossil
x1icrocooci, and 50 they proved, the re-
mains of q bygone age drifting around
in this. We frequently hear of blood
rains, the earth or snow assuming after
q shower q red hue. 1t Is owing to
countless numbers of diatoms that have
with'red dust been brought down by the
rain.
Larger than the diatoms, and more
perfect animals, are the Foraminiferd
that are also known to float in midair at
times, and have fallen in white showers
of dust in various parts of the world.
In point of numbers they were equal
with the diatoms A single species in
Russia forms entire hills and masses of
calcareous rock. The city of Paris is
built on ground composed almost entire
ly of them, and in such numbers that
less than cubic inch of chalk from
Chanfilly contained 5000 of them by
actual count, and they form the great
er part of the chalk that COW
ers the mountains from Champagne,
France, to England These immense
deposits have been formed by the ami
NAL dying and the shell sinking to the
bottom.
The Egyptian pyramids are monu-
ments to the species called NxnDlHlites,
being formed of them in the syenite.
They are beautiful shells, coiled and
separated into numbers of partitions.
Others, like the Operculina, seemed
formed of rich scales, while others
again, like the Textilaria, are almost
exact limitations of the fancy interlaced
patterns of French braid. The seas,
rivers, ponds and lakes are still receiv-
ing these forms, and the ooze in the At
lantic is called the Gto6eTikginG, from
being formed of them. So it is evident
that the seas are filing up, and in time
the present sea beds viii be continents,
and the now dry land the bed of seas,
only to be filed up in turn, following
out the oft-repeated history of past ages.
IN. Y. Sun.
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