ONE DROP OF WATER.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVI, Issue 22, 2 June 1906, Page 15

ONE DROP OF WATER.

In a single drop of unfiltered water may be seen in miniature the tragedy that goes on perpetually in the world at large, for in the little drop there is a whole universe of life, with all its terrible and death-dealing competition, with all its mystery and woe. fit was a French biologist who invented the method by which this wonderful state of things is demonstrated. He called the method the ’‘hanging-drop shape." and it is beautifully simple. A drop of water from the edge of an ordinary [Kind is placed in a hollowedoiit space on a small strip of glass and sealed with a bit of thinner glass. And now day after day and night after night the hideous business going on in that one drop of perfectly clear, and apparently pure, water may be watched and studied at the leisure of the observer. i The drop of waler is a world in itself. Multiunles of animals swim about in it with plenty of room. The giant worms. with tremendous swishing tails, of wlwse approach one is made aware by the confusion and panic of tlte smaller creatures scurrying out of the way in fear of their lives, and countless bagteria inhabit that drop as their permanent and proper home and their ranging place.