 | V.
ANIMULA Diamond lens |  |
5. V.
ANIMULA
THE three months succeeding Simon's catastrophe I
devoted night and day to my diamond lens. I had
constructed a vast galvanic battery, composed of nearly two
thousand pairs of plates, — a higher power I dared not use,
lest the diamond should be calcined. By means of this
enormous engine I was enabled to send a powerful current
of electricity continually through my great diamond, which
it seemed to me gained in lustre every day. At the expiration
of a month I commenced the grinding and polishing
of the lens, a work of intense toil and exquisite delicacy.
The great density of the stone, and the care required to be
taken with the curvatures of the surfaces of the lens, rendered
the labor the severest and most harassing that I had
yet undergone.
At last the eventful moment came; the lens was completed.
I stood trembling on the threshold of new worlds.
I had the realization of Alexander's famous wish before me.
The lens lay on the table, ready to be placed upon its platform.
My hand fairly shook as I enveloped a drop of water
with a thin coating of oil of turpentine, preparatory to its
examination, — a process necessary in order to prevent the
rapid evaporation of the water. I now placed the drop on
a thin slip of glass under the lens, and throwing upon it, by
the combined aid of a prism and a mirror, a powerful stream
of light, I approached my eye to the minute hole drilled
through the axis of the lens. For an instant I saw nothing
abyss. A pure white light, cloudless and serene, and
seemingly limitless as space itself, was my first impression.
Gently, and with the greatest care, I depressed the lens a
few hairs' breadths. The wondrous illumination still continued,
but as the lens approached the object, a scene of
indescribable beauty was unfolded to my view.
I seemed to gaze upon a vast space, the limits of which
extended far beyond my vision. An atmosphere of magical
luminousness permeated the entire field of view. I was
amazed to see no trace of animalculous life. Not a living
thing, apparently, inhabited that dazzling expanse. I comprehended
instantly, that, by the wondrous power of my
lens, I had penetrated beyond the grosser particles of aqueous
matter, beyond the realms of Infusoria and Protozoa,
down to the original gaseous globule, into whose luminous
interior I was gazing, as into an almost boundless dome
filled with a supernatural radiance.
It was, however, no brilliant void into which I looked.
On every side I beheld beautiful inorganic forms, of unknown
texture, and colored with the most enchanting hues.
These forms presented the appearance of what might be
called, for want of a more specific definition, foliated clouds
of the highest rarity; that is, they undulated and broke into
vegetable formations, and were tinged with splendors compared
with which the gilding of our autumn woodlands is as
dross compared with gold. Far away into the illimitable
distance stretched long avenues of these gaseous forests,
dimly transparent, and painted with prismatic hues of unimaginable
brilliancy. The pendent branches waved along
the fluid glades until every vista seemed to break through
half-lucent ranks of many-colored drooping silken pennons.
What seemed to be either fruits or flowers, pied with a
thousand hues lustrous and ever varying, bubbled from the
crowns of this fairy foliage. No hills, no lakes, no rivers,
no forms animate or inanimate were to be seen, save those
vast auroral copses that floated serenely in the luminous
unknown fires, unrealizable by mere imagination.
How strange, I thought, that this sphere should be thus
condemned to solitude! I had hoped, at least, to discover
some new form of animal life, — perhaps of a lower class
than any with which we are at present acquainted, — but
still, some living organism. I find my newly discovered
world, if I may so speak, a beautiful chromatic desert.
While I was speculating on the singular arrangements of
the internal economy of Nature, with which she so frequently
splinters into atoms our most compact theories, I
thought I beheld a form moving slowly through the glades
of one of the prismatic forests. I looked more attentively,
and found that I was not mistaken. Words cannot depict
the anxiety with which I awaited the nearer approach of this
mysterious object. Was it merely some inanimate substance,
held in suspense in the attenuated atmosphere of the
globule? or was it an animal endowed with vitality and motion?
It approached, flitting behind the gauzy, colored veils
of cloud-foliage, for seconds dimly revealed, then vanishing.
At last the violet pennons that trailed nearest to me vibrated;
they were gently pushed aside, and the Form floated
out into the broad light.
It was a female human shape. When I say “human,” I
mean it possessed the outlines of humanity, — but there
the analogy ends. Its adorable beauty lifted it illimitable
heights beyond the loveliest daughter of Adam.
I cannot, I dare not, attempt to inventory the charms of
this divine revelation of perfect beauty. Those eyes of
mystic violet, dewy and serene, evade my words. Her long
lustrous hair following her glorious head in a golden wake,
like the track sown in heaven by a falling star, seems to
quench my most burning phrases with its splendors. If all
the bees of Hybla nestled upon my lips, they would still
sing but hoarsely the wondrous harmonies of outline that
enclosed her form.
She swept out from between the rainbow-curtains of the
motions were those of some graceful Naiad, cleaving, by a
mere effort of her will, the clear, unruffled waters that fill
the chambers of the sea. She floated forth with the serene
grace of a frail bubble ascending through the still atmosphere
of a June day. The perfect roundness of her limbs
formed suave and enchanting curves. It was like listening
to the most spiritual symphony of Beethoven the divine, to
watch the harmonious flow of lines. This, indeed, was a
pleasure cheaply purchased at any price. What cared I, if
I had waded to the portal of this wonder through another's
blood? I would have given my own to enjoy one such moment
of intoxication and delight.
Breathless with gazing on this lovely wonder, and forgetful
for an instant of everything save her presence, I withdrew
my eye from the microscope eagerly, — alas! As my
gaze fell on the thin slide that lay beneath my instrument,
the bright light from mirror and from prism sparkled on a
colorless drop of water! There, in that tiny bead of dew,
this beautiful being was forever imprisoned. The planet
Neptune was not more distant from me than she. I hastened
once more to apply my eye to the microscope.
Animula (let me now call her by that dear name which I
subsequently bestowed on her) had changed her position.
She had again approached the wondrous forest, and was
gazing earnestly upwards. Presently one of the trees — as
I must call them — unfolded a long ciliary process, with
which it seized one of the gleaming fruits that glittered on
its summit, and sweeping slowly down, held it within reach
of Animula. The sylph took it in her delicate hand, and
began to eat. My attention was so entirely absorbed by
her, that I could not apply myself to the task of determining
whether this singular plant was or was not instinct with
volition.
I watched her, as she made her repast, with the most profound
attention. The suppleness of her motions sent a thrill
of delight through my frame; my heart beat madly as she
which I stood. What would I not have given to have had
the power to precipitate myself into that luminous ocean,
and float with her through those groves of purple and gold!
While I was thus breathlessly following her every movement,
she suddenly started, seemed to listen for a moment,
and then cleaving the brilliant ether in which she was floating,
like a flash of light, pierced through the opaline forest,
and disappeared.
Instantly a series of the most singular sensations attacked
me. It seemed as if I had suddenly gone blind. The
luminous sphere was still before me, but my daylight had
vanished. What caused this sudden disappearance? Had
she a lover, or a husband? Yes, that was the solution!
Some signal from a happy fellow-being had vibrated
through the avenues of the forest, and she had obeyed the
summons.
The agony of my sensations, as I arrived at this conclusion,
startled me. I tried to reject the conviction that my
reason forced upon me. I battled against the fatal conclusion,
— but in vain. It was so. I had no escape from it.
I loved an animalcule!
It is true, that, thanks to the marvellous power of my microscope,
she appeared of human proportions. Instead of
presenting the revolting aspect of the coarser creatures, that
live and struggle and die, in the more easily resolvable portions
of the water-drop, she was fair and delicate and of
surpassing beauty. But of what account was all that?
Every time that my eye was withdrawn from the instrument,
it fell on a miserable drop of water, within which, I
must be content to know, dwelt all that could make my life
lovely.
Could she but see me once! Could I for one moment
pierce the mystical walls that so inexorably rose to separate
us, and whisper all that filled my soul, I might consent to
be satisfied for the rest of my life with the knowledge of her
remote sympathy. It would be something to have established
to know that at times, when roaming through those enchanted
glades, she might think of the wonderful stranger,
who had broken the monotony of her life with his presence,
and left a gentle memory in her heart!
But it could not be. No invention, of which human intellect
was capable, could break down the barriers that Nature
had erected. I might feast my soul upon her wondrous
beauty, yet she must always remain ignorant of the adoring
eyes that day and night gazed upon her, and, even when
closed, beheld her in dreams. With a bitter cry of anguish
I fled from the room, and flinging myself on my bed, sobbed
myself to sleep like a child.
| V.
ANIMULA Diamond lens | |