animalcules. Sight and smell would disgust any one to drink a water full of these living creatures, which is always dirty and coloured
In order to investigate these animal aggregations, the green gelatinous matter is collected in a glass, with a wide orifice, into which we pour a little of the water in which they lived, or, if not to be had, river-water.
The microscope, intended for these investigations, must show the magnified objects clear and distinct. MM. Pistor and Schick, in Berlin, Plössl, in Vienna, and Chevalier, in Paris, make the best instruments, which magnify 1000—3000 times. Those which magnify only 5—600 times, are unfit for such researches. A particle of the green thermal substance, of the size of a pin’s head, is placed upon the object-glass, and torn between two sharp instruments, or, if wanting, with pins; and the green fragments are moistened with a small drop of water. The observation begins with magnifying 100—200 times, in order to detect the most distinct forms. Has an animalcule been discovered, it must rest some time under the instrument. The observation must be repeated with a magnification of 4—600; and after having acquired some skill in the mode of magnifying, we continue the intended investigation.
After having acquired by numerous trials a certain dexterity, the anatomy of the animalcules takes place in two different ways. The first is plain and easy: A flat bit of glass, as thin as paper, very pure and
