The Romance of the Microscope: An interesting description of its uses in all branches of science, industry, agriculture, and in the detection of crime, with a short account of its origin, history, and developmentEaland, C. A. (Charles Aubrey)
History
The Romance of the Microscope: An interesting description of its uses in all branches of science, industry, agriculture, and in the detection of crime, with a short account of its origin, history, and development
Ealand, C. A. (Charles Aubrey)
Microscopes; Microscopy
Within the _Volvox_ sphere we may observe a number, usually one to
eight, of smaller spheres. These are so-called daughter colonies which
have arisen from the continued division of special cells. They develop,
fairly rapidly, into young _Volvox_ colonies, then they burst through
the cells of the parent colony, swim out into the water and quickly
grow to the size of the _Volvox_ from which they were formed.
There is another kind of _Volvox_ of a yellowish colour and much
smaller than _Globator_, the big one is the one we must procure; it is
much more easily studied.
Certain of the plants we shall find in our pond are so animal-like in
their movements, that the microscopist who sees them for the first
time may wonder whether we are not mistaken in calling them plants. We
have already described the common _Chlamydomonas_, with its curious
jerky method of propelling itself through the water. There is,
however, an equally common one-celled, pond-frequenting plant which
has puzzled naturalists even more, for it certainly possesses many
very animal-like characteristics. Its name is _Euglena Viridis_ and
we require our highest magnification to examine it for it does not
exceed one-two hundred and fiftieth part of an inch in length. Usually,
_Euglena_ is cigar-shaped but, as it possesses the very unplant-like
characteristic of not having a firm cell wall it can change its shape
to a considerable extent and it often assumes curious forms. At the
forward end of this minute plant there is a single whip-like thread, by
means of which it swims; a little below the base of the whip, there is
a red eye spot. Elsewhere we have described how the protean animalcule
feeds by flowing round its food-material, _Euglena_ feeds in a similar
manner, but it also feeds after the manner of a plant. When this active
little plant is about to increase it either divides into two lengthways
or becomes surrounded with a firm wall within which it breaks up into a
number of young forms which are released later by the bursting of the
wall.
[Illustration:
_Photos by Flatters & Garnett_
1. BLADDERWORT
A British water plant which entraps small animals in its bladders
and digests its captives.
2. SPORES OF HORSE TAIL
These spores with their thread-like outgrowths vary in appearance
according to the moisture in the air.
3. HAIRS ON A POTATO LEAF
The star-shaped hairs on a potato leaf make beautiful objects for
the microscope. Leaves of many plants are clothed with curious
hairs.
4. SPIROGYRA
A green thread-like water weed. Two threads are shown fusing
together; from each part of these fused threads a new plant will
arise.
]
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