On Molecular and Microscopic Science, Volume 2 (of 2)

RECAPITULATION.

Numerous instances of microscopic structure may be found in the vertebrate series of marine animals, but the field is too extensive for the Author to venture upon.

In the first section of this book, an attempt has been made to give some idea of the present state of molecular science—far short, indeed, of so extensive a subject; yet it may be sufficient, perhaps, to show the views now entertained with regard to the powers of nature, the atoms of matter, and the general laws resulting from the phenomena of their reciprocal action. By spectrum analysis it has been shown that not only many terrestrial substances, in a highly attenuated state, are constituents of the luminous atmospheres of the sun and stars, but that the nebulÆ in the more distant regions of space contain some of the elementary gases of the air we breathe.

In the succeeding sections it has been proved that the atmosphere teems with the microscopic germs of animal and vegetable beings, waiting till suitable conditions enable them to spring into life, and perform their part in the economy of the world. The life history of the lower classes of both kingdoms has been a triumph of microscopic science.

The molecular structure of vegetables and animals has been investigated by men of science in their minutest details; the fragment of a tooth, bone, or shell, recent or fossil, is sufficient to determine the nature of the animal to which it belonged; and, if fossil, to assign the geological period at which it had lived, whether on the earth, in the waters, or the air. By the microscopic examination of a minute Foraminifer or shell-like organism, it has been proved beyond a doubt that the EozoÖn, an animal which existed at a geological period whose remoteness in time carries us far beyond the reach of imagination, only differs in size from a kind living in the present seas. Simplicity of structure has preserved the race through all the geological changes which, during millions of centuries, have swept from existence myriads of more highly organized beings. The EozoÖn is the most ancient form of life known, and was probably an inhabitant of the primeval ocean. Patches of carbonaceous matter imbedded in the same strata show that vegetation had already begun; so at that most remote period of the earth’s existence, the vivifying influence of the sun, the constitution and motions of the atmosphere and ocean, and the vicissitudes of day and night, of life and death, were the same as at the present time.

Footnotes

1. The nervous system is ably explained in Dr. Carpenter’s ‘Manual of Physiology.’

2. A pointer and greyhound, belonging to a friend of the author’s, repeatedly brought home hares. Upon watching the dogs, the pointer was seen to find the hare, which was coursed and killed by the greyhound. Singular as this may seem, it is by no means unprecedented.

3. From rhizon, a root, and pous, podos, a foot.

4. ‘On the Amoeba princeps and its reproductive cells,’ by Mr J. H. Carter: Annals of Natural History, July 1863.

5. ‘On Difflugian Rhizopods,’ by G. C. Wallich M.D. Annals of Natural History, March, 1864.

6. Dr. Wallich.

7. ‘Introduction to the Study of the Foraminifera,’ by W. B. Carpenter.

8. A complete description of this complex type is given by Dr. Carpenter in the Phil. Trans. 1856.

9. Dr. Carpenter.

10. Structure of the Organic Remains in the Laurentian Rocks of Canada: by J. W. Dawson. Esq., Principal of M‘Gill University, Montreal.

11. The discovery of EozoÖn and the minute details of its structure are published in the Intellectual Observer for May 1865. Also the ‘Laurentian Rocks of Canada,’ a small work, contains articles by various authors on the occurrence, structure, and mineralogy of certain organic remains of these rocks.

12. ‘Histoire Naturelle des Animaux sans VertÈbres,’ par MM. Deshayes et H. Milne-Edwards.

13. Memoir by Dr. Bowerbank in the Transactions of the Microscopic Society.

14. Professor Huxley’s Lectures.

15. M. Milne-Edwards.

16. Professor Huxley’s Lectures.

17. ‘PalÆontology,’ by Professor Owen.

18. Prof. Owen.

19. Mr. Gosse.

20. ‘Lectures on Comparative Anatomy,’ by Professor Owen.

21. Described in ‘The Microscope,’ by Dr. Carpenter.

22. ‘Lectures on Comparative Anatomy,’ by Professor Owen.

23. ‘Lectures on Comparative Anatomy,’ by Professor Owen.

24. Dr. F. MÜller, of Santa Caterina.

25. ‘Recherches sur quelques Animaux infÉrieurs de la MÉditerranÉe,’ par C. Vogt: MÉmoires de l’Institut National GÉnevois, tom. i.

26. Published in 1858, by the Ray Society.

27. ‘Lectures on Comparative Anatomy,’ by Professor Owen.

28. ‘Evenings at the Microscope,’ by P. H. Gosse, Esq.

29. ‘Observations on the Caryophyllia Smithii,’ by Mrs. Thynne, in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History.

30. ‘Histoire des Corallines,’ par Professeur Milne-Edwards.

31. ‘Histoire des Corallines,’ par Professeur Milne-Edwards.

32. According to the system of M. Milne-Edwards, who made the Annulosa a particular object of investigation.

33. Dr. Thomas Williams on ‘British Annelides,’ British Association, 1852.

34. ‘Comptes rendus,’ July 1864.

35. ‘PalÆontology,’ by Professor Owen.

36. Messrs. Woodward and Barrett on the Synapta. Trans. of Zoological Society, London.

37. ‘The Microscope,’ by Dr. Carpenter.

38. Mr. C. Spence Bate.

39. ‘Histoire naturelle des CrustacÉs,’ par M. Milne-Edwards.

40. ‘Evenings at the Microscope,’ by Mr. Gosse.

41. Jeffrey’s ‘British Conchology.’

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