spoil your song;
For 'twas the self-same power Divine
Taught you to sing and me to shine,
That you with music, I with light,
Might beautify and cheer the night."

The songster heard his short oration,
And, warbling out his approbation,
Released him, as my story tells,
And found a supper somewhere else.

COWPER.

* * * * *

THE INVISIBLE WORLD REVEALED BY THE MICROSCOPE.

A fact not less startling than would be the realisation of the
imaginings of Shakespeare and of Milton, or of the speculations of Locke
and of Bacon, admits of easy demonstration, namely, that the air, the
earth, and the waters teem with numberless myriads of creatures, which
are as unknown and as unapproachable to the great mass of mankind, as
are the inhabitants of another planet. It may, indeed, be questioned,
whether, if the telescope could bring within the reach of our
observation the living things that dwell in the worlds around us, life
would be there displayed in forms more diversified, in organisms more
marvellous, under conditions more unlike those in which animal existence
appears to our unassisted senses, than may be discovered in the leaves
of every forest, in the flowers of every garden, and in the waters of
every rivulet, by that noblest instrument of natural philosophy, the
Microscope.

[Illustration: LARVA OF THE COMMON GNAT.
A. The body and head of the larva (magnified).
B. The respiratory apparatus, situated in the tail.
C. Natural size.]

To an intelligent person, who has previously obtained a general idea of
the nature of the Objects about to be submitted to his inspection, a
group of living animalcules, seen under a powerful microscope for the
first time, presents a scene of extraordinary interest, and never fails
to call forth an expression of amazement and admiration. This statement
admits of an easy illustration: for example, from some water containing
aquatic plants, collected from a pond on Clapham Common, I select a
small twig, to which are attached a few delicate flakes, apparently of
slime or jelly; some minute fibres, standing erect here and there on the
twig, are also dimly visible to the naked eye. This twig, with a drop or
two of the water, we will put between two thin plates of glass, and
place under the field of view of a microscope, having lenses that
magnify the image of an object 200 times in linear dimensions.

Upon loo