te dots near the wall at the side
opposite the vesicle. These increase in number and size, but remain
always on that half of the yolk, leaving the other half of the globe
clear. One can hardly conceive the beauty of the egg as seen through the
microscope at this period of its growth, when the whole yolk is divided,
with the dark granules on one side, while the other side, where the
transparent halo of the vesicle is seen, is brilliant with light. With
the growth of the egg these granules enlarge, become more distinct, and
under the microscope some of them appear to be hollow. They are not
round in form, but rather irregular, and under the effect of light they
are exceedingly brilliant. Presently, instead of being scattered equally
over the space they occupy, they form clusters,--constellations, as it
were,--and between these clusters are clear spaces, produced by the
separation of the albumen from the oil.

At this period of its growth there is a wonderful resemblance between
the appearance of the egg, as seen under the microscope, and
the firmament with the celestial bodies. The little clusters or
constellations are unequally divided: here and there they are two and
two like double stars, or sometimes in threes or fives, or in sevens,
recalling the Pleiades, and the clear albuminous tracks between are like
the empty spaces separating the stars.

This is no fanciful simile: it is simply true that such is the actual
appearance of the yolk at this time; and the idea cannot but suggest
itself to the mind, that the thoughts which have been at work in the
universe are collected and repeated here within this little egg, which
offers us a miniature diagram of the firmament. This is one of the first
changes of the yolk, ending by forming regular clusters with a sort
of net-work of albumen between, and then this phase of the growth is
complete.

Now the clusters of the yolk separate, and next the albumen in its turn
concentrates into clusters, and the dark bodies, which have been till
now the striking points, give way to the lighter spheres of albumen
between which the clusters are scattered. Presently the whole becomes
redissolved: these stages of the growth being completed, this little
system of worlds is melted, as it were: but while it undergoes this
process, the albuminous spheres, after being dissolved, arrange
themselves in concentric rings, alternating with rings of granules,
around the Purkinjean vesicle. At this tim