Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-08-15
SOME MICROSCOPIC FOSSILS.
Shells OF Minute Creatures Which Have
Built Mountains and Pyramids.

SOME MICROSCOPIC FOSSILS
Shells OF Minute Creatures Which Have
- Built Mountains and Pyramids.
IF YOU WILL TAKE A DROP OF WATER
Il from any stagnant pool and examine II
under microscope, you will find it filed with
minute forms Of life called infusoria and
diatoms-the former sometimes having shells
Of varied and curious shapes, while the
imy cases in which the latter are in
closed exhibit m infinite variety of most
exquisite patterns. When these creatures die
their soft parts quickly decompose, but the
little dwellings they have occupied remain i'm
perishable In such coun tless myriads do small
beings Of this sort throng the oceans and even
the earth itself wherever it is moist and SO
rapidly do their myriad generations succeed
one another that shells Of their ancestors which
persisted agesago are now found in fossil state,
composing entire ranges of mountains
and covering the land in many parts
with layer several feet In
thickness. So full is the crust Of this planet
OF such remains that when a particle OF
earth mas been mixed with q drop Of water and
the liquid has been permitted to evaporate
from glass slide. the smallest stain left upon
the surface abounds with curious structures,
whose living types inhabit the waters of today.
1t is believed that the atmosphere abounds with
their eggs, which, being inconceivably light,
nre carried about by the winds in unseen
clouds.
Near Bilin. in Bohemia stratum of slate has
been discovered fourteen feet thick, entirely
composed of the shells Of diatoms. 1t is used
when ground as a polishing powder under the
name of 'tripoli, and single apothecary in
Berlin sells more than 1000 pounds Of it yearly
for this purpose. A single cubic inch OF this
material contains no less than 40, 000. 600, 900
distinct organic forms. In Sweden and lap
land white, mesly earth exists distributed in
layers and sometimes thirty feet in thickness
1t is wholly composed of the shells Of diatoms
trees is used by the inhabitants as article OF
food In times of scarcity.
WHAT CHALK CONSISTS OF.
Chalk consists in great measure Of such fossil
structures, together with the shells of almost
microscopic animals called ''foraminifera,"
which largely compose the beds Of all the
seas. Flint-that substance typical OF endur-
mg-has been proved to be OF like origin,
being composed chiefly OF the shells of
minute creatures, mingled with the scales
OF fishes, dc. Some of the foraminifera, how
ever, arc Of comparatively large size
notably a sort about the shape and big
ness OF dollar, which from their resemblance
TO COINS have received the name of ''nummu-
lites' or fossil money. 1t has been said that
their remains have added more to the mass Of
materials composing the crust of the globe than
the bones of all the elephants, whales, hippo
potami and other monsters that ever lived"
ms, however, is stating the case very feebly
Whole mountains are raade of them. The vast
limestone range at the head OF the Adriatic gulf
is composed almost entirely of nummulites and
at Suggsville in the United States is a chain of
hills 800 feet high, literally made up of single
species OF this FOSSIL The city Of Paris is built
OF them, and the great pyramid Of Egypti is
similarly constituted. 1t is thought that the
same is true of the stupendous Andes, which
arc conjectured to have been originally formed
OF minute organized remains. Much Of the
sand of the Desert Of Sahara consists of the
fossil shells Of small animals.
MICROSCOPIC SHELLS ~ MoLLUsKs.
The diatoms which crowd tho seas are de-
voured in multitudes by scallops and other
mollusks. When the stomachs Of such animals
are examined they are found to contain myriads
OF microscopic shells, the soft parts having been
digested. These imy and fliaty cases afford
most interesting and delightful study to the stu
dent ofmicroscopy. under whose instrumentsare
revealed an astonishing variety of elaborate and
exquisite patterns Guano has been found to
contain many beautiful forms OF diatoms.
which have lost none Of their perfection Of
structure, although they must have gone
through the process OF digestion twice and
have been subjected to the action of the ele-
ueHtS VI necessarily. tney were
first swallowed by fishes. which subsequently
became the prey OF the voracious sea birds that
produced the guano.
INVISIBLE scAvENdEns.
OF the purpose which such minute organisms
as those described serve in the economy of
nature nothing certainly is known. although
some light is thrown upon the question by the
distinguished Prof. Owen, who says: Soon
slider their incredible numbers their universal
distribution, their unsuitable voracity, and that
it is the particles of decaying vegetable and
animal bodies which they arc appointed to
devour and assimilate. Surely We must
in some degree, be indebted to these
ever active, invisible scayengers for the
salubrity of the atmosphere and the purity of
water. Nor is this all; they perform still
more important Office in preventing the grad
ual diminution OF the present amount Of Or
ganized matter upon the earth. For when this
matter is dissolved or suspended in water. in
that state OF communion and decay which i'm
mediately precedes its final decomposition into
the elementary gases, and its consequent re-
turn from the organic to the inorganic world,
these wakeful members of nature q invisible po-
lice are everywhere ready to arrest
the fugitive organized particles and turn them
back into the ascending stream Of animal life.
particles into their own living tissues, they
themselves become the food OF larger in
fusoria and of humorous other small animals,
which. in their turn, are devoured by larger
animals. And thus food fl. for the nourish-
ment of the highes: organized beings isbrought
back by a short route from the extremity OF
the realms of OrpariZpd matter"