The observer who for the first time looks through the microscope at a drop of water from the river, from the sea, or from any ordinary source—that is to say, water not specially purified—is struck with surprise and admiration at the motion revealed to him. Infusoria, microscopic articulata, and various micro-organisms people the microscopic field, and animate it by their movements; but at the same time all sorts of particles are also agitated, particles which cannot be considered as living beings, and which are, in fact, nothing but organic detritus, mineral dust, and debris of every description. Very often the singular movements of these granulations, which simulate up to a certain point those of living beings, have perplexed the observer or led him to erroneous conclusions, and the bodies have been taken for animalcules or for bacteria.
Characters of this Movement.—But it is as a rule quite easy to avoid this confusion. The Brownian movement is a kind of oscillation, a stationary, dancing to-and-fro movement. It is a Saint Vitus's dance on one and the same spot, and is thus distinguished from the movements of displacement customary with animate beings. Each particle has its own special dance. Each one acts on its own account, independently of its neighbour. There is, however, in the execution of these individual oscillations a kind of common and regular character which arises from the fact that their amplitudes differ little from each other. The largest particles are the slowest; when above four thousandths of a millimetre in diameter, they almost cease to be mobile. The smallest are the most active. When so small as to be barely visible in the microscope, the
