Animal
forms are inferior in mass, and their powers of motion often withdraw them
from our sight. The
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vegetable kingdom, on the contrary, acts upon our imagination by its
continued presence and by the magnitude of its forms; for the size of a tree
indicates its age, and here alone age is associated with the expression of a
constantly renewed vigor.*
[footnote] *Humboldt, 'Ansichten der Natur' (2te Ausgabe, 1826), bd. ii. s.
21.
In the animal kingdom (and this knowledge is also the result of Ehrenberg's
discoveries), the form which we term microscopic occupy the largest space,
in consequence of their rapid propagation.*
[footnote] *On multiplication by spontaneous division of the
mother-corpuscle and intercalation of new substance, see Ehrenberg 'Van den
jetzt lebenden Thierarten der Kreidebildung', in the 'Abhandl. der Berliner
Akad. der Wiss.', 1839, s. 94. The most powerful productive faculty in
nature is that manifested in the Vorticellae. Estimations of the greatest
possible development of masses will be found in Chrenberg's great work 'Die
Infusionsthierchen als volkommne Organismen', 1838, s. xiii., xix., and 244.
"The Milky Way of these organisms comprises the genera Monas, Vibrio,
Bacterium, and Bodo.
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