This section is from the book "A Library Of Wonders And Curiosities Found In Nature And Art, Science And Literature", by I. Platt. Also available from Amazon: A library of wonders and curiosities.
Animalcules - The Cheese Mite - The Hydra, or Polypes.
The smallest creature in existence
Has limbs and sinews, blood, and heart, and brain,
Life and her proper functions to sustain,
Through the whole fabric, smaller than a grain !
What more can our penurious reason grant
To the large whale, or castled elephant; To those enormous terrors of the Nile,
The crested snake, and long-tail'd crocodile ;Than that all differ but in shape and name,
Each destin'd to a less or larger frame? Prior' s Solomon.
 
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