one: of these, not fewer than
100,000 distinct species are already known and described; and every day is
adding to the catalogue. Wherever you penetrate, that life can be
sustained, you find living beings to exist; in the depths of ocean, in the
arid desert, or at the icy polar regions. The air teems with life. The
soil which clothes the earth all round, is swarming with life, vegetable
and animal. Take a drop of water, and examine it with a microscope: lo! it
is swarming with living creatures. Within Life, exists other life, until
it recedes before the powers of human vision. The parasitic animalcule,
which preys upon or within the body of a larger animal, is itself preyed
upon by parasites peculiar to itself. So minute are living animalcules,
that Ehrenberg has computed that not fewer than five hundred millions can
subsist in a single drop of water, and each of these monads is endowed
with its appropriate organs, possesses spontaneous power of motion, and
enjoys an independent vitality.

In the very ocean deeps, insects, by the labor of ages, are enabled to
construct islands, and lay the foundations of future continents. The coral
insect is the great architect of the southern ocean. First a reef is
formed; seeds are wafted to it, vegetation springs up, a verdant island
exists; then man takes possession, and a colony is formed.

Dig down into the earth, and from a hundred yards deep, throw up a portion
of soil--cover it so that no communication can take place between that
earth and the surrounding air. Soon you will observe vegetation springing
up--perhaps new plants, altogether unlike any thing heretofore grown in
that neighborhood. During how many thousands of years has the vitality of
these seeds been preserved deep in the earth's bosom! Not less wonderful
is the fact stated by Lord Lindsay, who took from the hand of an Egyptian
mummy a tuber, which must have been wrapped up there more than 2000 years
before. It was planted, was rained and dewed upon, the sun shone on it
again, and the root grew, bursting forth and blooming into a beauteous
Dahlia!

At the North Pole, where you would expect life to become extinct, the snow
is sometimes found of a bright red color. Examine it by the microscope,
and, lo! it is covered with mushrooms, growing on the surface of the snow
as their natural abode.

A philosopher distills a portion of pure water, secludes it from the air,
and then places it under the influence of a powerf