Page:The fairy tales of science.djvu/258

 long since we allowed our imagination to penetrate the unfathomable ocean of space, wherein "God's name is writ in worlds;" and now as we peep into a drop of water, we find in the structure of its marvellous inhabitants evidences of the same Almighty Wisdom that conceived the harmonious arrangement of the celestial orbs. It has been truly said, that the smallest living object in the world is in itself, and for the part it is destined to perform in nature, as perfect as the largest.

The plants of the invisible world outvie the animals in strangeness and beauty. We call them plants, though they are utterly unlike the vegetable forms of the visible world. All these beings are endowed with powers of motion, and were until quite recently regarded as animals. In nature there is no line of demarcation between the two organic kingdoms, and these moving plants seem to form the link which renders the chain of being complete. The Diatomaceæ, or diatoms, are by far the most abundant forms of microscopic vegetation, and we will therefore devote some space to their consideration. In shape, these beings resemble mathematical figures of minute dimensions, rather than vegetable organisms; and appear to us as living circles, ovals, polygons, triangles, and stars.

The movements of the diatoms are due to the cilia, or eyelashes, with which they are furnished; but it is a disputed point whether these cilia act in obedience to a will, or whether their motion is due