Year: 1869

filed with shadows, as the tissue Of the
falcons is, so to speak, saturated with
light.


The microscope permits us to study
the construction of these Implements so
we'll adapted to the work of their owner
that, sometimes, he seems rather to be
the guard set over them to keep them
safe, than their actual proprietor.


Never did the imagination of Breug-
heI run mad conceive a being 50 repul-
sive as the mOnstrOUs ant-eater. 1t can
scarcely drag itself along; we dare
not say that it cTawls, lest we should,
without prOvOCatiOn, insult the snakes
the petiful thing lives for no other pur-
pose, seemingly, than to watch over the
edge of its nail, which is as keen and
sharp as a razor. Should it by too hasty
a movement dull or break that instru-
ment, which is, at once, its lever, its
pickaXe, and its spade, it would see it
self condemned to the cTuellestSOf all
deaths. The health of its stomach re-
uuires that it should keep intact the
sharpened sceptre with which it is to
reign by devOuTing a whole people, like
the kings of good old Homer.


But be their nails and claws as straight
as those of the ape; hooked like those OF
the parrOquet; fiat like those of man;
vertically compressed like the cats;
fixed like the dogs; movable like the
panther's; they all present a certain uni
formity of texture which may be recOg-
niZed amid an infinite variety of details.


We find by the aid of the microscope
a sort of family resemblance between
the delicate, rosy tissue which tips the
fingers of a young girl, and the tender
but horny claw of the bird of prey.


These nails and claws, which are
swords, ,rapiers, talOns, or diamond points
! by turns, are silkier than the cOTOlla OF
! the lilly, more limpid than scales Of mica,
and seem to be made up of glUtinOus,
| hair-like fibres melted together. But, in
order to maintain this result, nature has
proceeded as she always does; she has
set at work those legiOns which the mi
crOscope world reveal to us at every
moment.


! You would assuredly be struck aghast,
were you called upon to count how many
| of these hairs enter into the composition
of the keen edged claws that garnish the
paw of the lion. Nor would We recon-
mend you to undertake similar COM
mutation for the forest that adOrns the
head of the stag. The horn is sister to
! the nail, only made up of q little less
Z J
! SuDpOse that blades of grass were tC


combine to make up palm tree. Few


er of their stalks would be required fol
! the purpose than we should want o


these hairs to compose the skull anC
! horns of a ram, or of bull.


It is precisely because the individuals
ty of these hairs continues in spite o
their combination, that horn is one o
the most curious substances that yOJ


can imagine. Among other things, yOJ


would most frequently see a sort Ofrain


bow family outlined by the pOlarizeC
light, spring up around each elementaT!
fstalk.


The horn of the rhinOceros is one o
the objects that gets covered most easl


Iy with these wonderful prismatiC hues
Cut it, pare it, scrape it as it may sui


your purpose best, crOsswise or length


wise, you will continually come upOl


fresh hues, and unforeseen shadings o


color.


Although thus made one in common
union and welded together, the hair
are none the less subject to the same or
ganic laws as though they were separ


ate and isolated. Exactly like thei


brethren who, dispersed over the skin
cover it and protect it, they are govern
ed by the great law of nlOUlttng, and


is because they inherit this Organi
, weakness that the bOny diadem of tn
, king of our forests fall at the feet of hi
r dethroned majesty. But let us not as
micrographic analysis to give us the rea
; son of this annual phenomenon. No


can it tell you why millions of hiddel


organs work with feverish activity, an


replace the fallen antlers with a set still


finer, when the course of the seasOl


brings the Earth back to the same point
5 of its orbit. BUTT can show you thOus
, ands of millions of organs which ar
; concealed in the substance of the inne
skin, and which draw from the blood tn
5 material for its incessant restoration.
2 We behold all these occult phenOme
= ma that concern the innermOst mechau
= ism of life going on before our eyes, wit


a certainty and precision far superior t
the highest perfection that we COul
t show in our work, were we obliged t
? content ourselves with the views of tn
= AristOtIes and the PlatOs.


, The power of our artificial sight ens
2 bles our intelligence to advance a me-


stage in the explanation of the Cosmos
I but it does not give US the Key of any
f thing whatever. When we get beyOn
= the circle that previously confined us,
, is only to find ourselves shut up in a eli
/ Gle that contains the first one; it is NJ


because we have been really set free.