THE EARLIER FORMS OF LIFE, 



271 



I cannot forbear alluding to the interesting confirmation of the 

 genuineness of Eozoon afforded by the discovery of these Huronian 

 fossils in New Hampshire : 1. Eozoon sprung upon us with affinities 

 rather remote from existing forms, but the Stromatopora has been 

 known for fifty years as a veritable organism. 2. The latter has the 

 same silicated condition with the former ; hence we cannot set aside 

 Eozoon merely because the supposed animal parts have been infiltrated 



1 



Fig. 10. Lichenalia Concentbica. (Hall.) 



1. A nearly perfect frond. 



2, 3. Enlargements of the non-celluliferous side, showing the form and arrangement of the 



stigmata. 



by a silicate. A well-known organism is proved to be silicated ; hence 

 all presumption against the existence of the same mineral condition in 

 a related animal is removed. 3. Stromatopora is zoologically allied 

 to Eozoon. 4. It appears in a subsequent period, showing a natural 

 order of development. 5. Stratigraphical and petrographical studies 

 prove the greenstones to satisfactorily belong to the true Huronian 

 formation, and thus make the sequence of life free from ambiguity. 



Eozoic Geography. Such vast periods are necessarily involved 

 in those early stages of the earth's growth, that we cannot portray 



