CHAPTER YII. 



OPPONENTS AND OBJECTIONS. 



The active objectors to the animal nature of Eozoon 

 have been few^ though some of them have returned to 

 the attack with a pertinacity and determination which 

 would lead one to believe that they think the most 

 sacred interests of science to be dependent on the 

 annihilation of this proto-foraminifer. I do not pro- 

 pose here to treat of the objections in detail. I have 

 presented the case of Eozoon on its own merits, and 

 on these it must stand. I may merely state that the 

 objectors strive to account for the existence of Eozoon 

 by purely mineral deposition, and that the complicated 

 changes which they require to suppose are perhaps the 

 strongest indirect evidence for the necessity of regard- 

 ing the structures as organic. The reader who desires 

 to appreciate this may consult the notes to this 

 chapter. * 



I confess that I feel disposed to treat very tenderly 

 the position of objectors. The facts I have stated 

 make large demands on the faith of the greater part 

 even of naturalists. Yery few geologists or naturalists 



* Also Eowney and King's papers in "Journal Geological 

 Society, August, 1866 ; and Proceedings Irish Academy ^ 1870 

 and 1871. 



