Read "Under the Maples" by John Burroughs online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
In regard to this fullness of life in the hidden places of nature, Darwin says as much of the world as a whole:
Well may we affirm that every part of the world is inhabitable. Whether lakes of brine or those subterranean ones hidden beneath volcanic mountains -- warm mineral springs -- the wide expanse and depth of the ocean, the upper regions of the atmosphere, and even the surface of perpetual snow -- all support organic beings.