Outlines of Creation

by Elisha Noyce

FIG. 1.—DIATOMA VULGARIS.

FIG. 2.—VARIOUS DIATOMACEÆ.

Nor is this the only vegetation which the great world of waters contains, for if we descend from the contemplation of its larger members we find them even surpassed in quantity by others of such extreme smallness, that they can only be seen individually by means of the microscope, but which exist in such prodigious quantities that the mind can hardly realise the fact. These vegetable atoms have been so increasing and depositing their minute coverings at the bottom of most parts of the ocean, that for hundreds of miles their beds are composed of nothing else, and it has been found that most of the great changes on the surface of the earth have been effected by these minute creatures and their companions of the animal world; for as we find chalk-downs and coral-reefs formed by the remains of microscopic animals, so productions of equal extent have been formed by the smallest members of the vegetable kingdom, chiefly the "Diatomaceæ," a race of minute vegetable productions which propagate by sub-division and have the power of withdrawing earthy matters from the waters in which they live, which forms a sort of shell or covering; this shell at their death remains indestructible and gradually accumulates in the bed of the sea (fig. 1). Examination of the various strata of the earth shows that chains of hills, beds of marl, and almost every kind of soil, whether superficial or raised from a depth, consist in a great proportion of the earthy remains of these minute plants. These tracts of land were once the beds of oceans which were thus gradually filled up. The waters of the Antarctic Ocean are often opaque and quite brown from the multiplicity of these creatures, the lead used on shipboard for sounding coming up from the bottom covered with what appears to be mud, but which on a microscopic examination proves to be nothing else than the shells of these and allied species (fig. 2). Thus we find the land and the waters are everywhere full of vegetable life; the air itself moreover is so filled with the germs of vegetable and animal creations, that it is quite impossible to exclude a portion so small that it shall not contain any; in proof of which, any organic substance set by for a few days in a vessel ever so carefully closed, is shortly covered with a growth of mould consisting of fungi, which under the microscope present most beautiful forms and colours (fig. 3). The cause of this is a deposit from the air of the spores or germs of these creatures, and the nature of the decomposing substance into which they fall often determines the race or tribe which shall come to life and inhabit it, showing plainly that but a few of these only among many come to maturity, just as when a variety of seeds are thrown on any particular kind of soil, only those to which the soil may be suitable come to perfection.

FIG. 3.—a a, MOULD FROM AN OLD BONE—b, MOULD FROM JAM.

Dr. Carpenter in his work on the microscope says:—"There are scarcely any microscopic objects more beautiful than some of those forms of mould or mildew which are so commonly found growing upon the surface of jams and preserves, especially when they are viewed with a low magnifying power and by reflected light; for they present themselves as a forest of stems and branches of extremely varied and elegant forms, loaded with fruit of singular delicacy of conformation, all glistening brightly on a dark ground.

"The universality of the appearance of these simple forms of fungi upon all spots favourable to their development, has given rise to the belief that they are spontaneously produced by decaying substances, but there is no occasion for this mode of accounting for it, since the extraordinary means adopted by nature for the production and diffusion of the germs of these plants adequately suffices to explain the facts of the case.

"The number of sporules which any one fungus may develope is almost incalculable; a single individual of the "puff-ball" tribe, has been computed to send forth no fewer than ten millions. And their minuteness is such that they are scattered through the air in the finest possible dust, so that it is difficult to conceive of a place from which they should be excluded."

Pure water exposed to the air does not afford nourishment to the germs which fall into it till a sufficient number of them shall have been deposited to form a food for those which come after them; but if we mix with the water any soluble vegetable or animal matter, in a short time the microscope will detect the growth of the germs that are being deposited, for where nourishment is, there only can they be developed. These germs are capable of existing for an indefinite period, either floating in the water, or blown about by the air, and have been detected hundreds of miles from land, the rigging and sails of ships far away from shore are often covered with what sailors suppose to be sand blown from the land, but which are organic substances, either vegetable or animal. According to Humboldt, the Red Sea has derived its name from the fact that at certain seasons the surface of the water has a reddish appearance, and this (as he says) he was fortunate enough to observe, which colour he found to be due to myriads of red fungi which had formed on the surface. The seeds of some plants are furnished with minute wings or plumes which cause them to be borne on the air or floated on the water (fig. 4), to fertilise some barren spot, perhaps a coral reef which has at length reached the surface of the water and which ascends no higher, for the little creatures which built it are aquatic and cannot live exposed to the air; this coral reef now becomes a receptacle for sea-weed and fungi, which float on the surface of the ocean, are washed on to the reef, die, decay, and leave behind a thin layer of mould, which process being repeated again and again, forms an elevated edge to the reef, enclosing a lake or "lagoon" as it is called, the waters of which evaporate and the space is filled up in the same way as the edge was formed, together with the excrements of birds, &c., forming layer after layer of mould, and the surface becomes fit for the growth of larger seeds, as the cocoa-nut, banana, &c., which are drifted on to it by the waves; in this way a coral reef becomes an island fit to be inhabited by man and other animals.