Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. V, No. XXV, June, 1852Various
General
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. V, No. XXV, June, 1852
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
useless one, for whatever can help to prove the power and wisdom with
which this world was created can not be time thrown away. To those who
only use the microscope as an amusement (and it is a never-ending one),
a short time occasionally is well bestowed on one of the most beautiful
parts of the creation.
There are upward of seven hundred species of Infusoria known and
described. These are of all shapes and forms, some even assuming a
variety in themselves; many possess eyes, others have none; some move
so rapidly that the eye can not follow them, and others are attached
to various substances; some have very many stomachs, or internal sacs,
and others have only one; others, again, form a compound mass, that is,
many individuals live in the same transparent case, and some are so
minute, that by the aid of the best microscopes they can not be clearly
discerned. Many people are disgusted after viewing water through a
microscope, and suppose that all water abounds in living creatures,
and that, consequently, we drink them in myriads. This is an error:
there are none, or very few, in spring water, and, as no one would
think of drinking from a ditch or stagnant pool where plants abound,
there is little to fear. If necessitated to partake of water abounding
in life, the person is either ignorant of its state, or the want is
so urgent that the thought does not occur; and even should it arise,
these delicate transparent little atoms would not be perceived by the
taste--this fear or disgust may therefore be dismissed. Many waters
abound in the larvæ of gnats and other insects, and minute creatures
of the crustaceous order, but these can generally be seen by the naked
eye.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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