186 THE DAWN OF LIFE. 



ch/pev.s,^ have been shown to be tabular crystals and variously 

 formed bodies, belonging to different minerals, wedged crosi<- 

 ways or obliquely in the calcareous interspaces between the 

 grains and plates of serpentine. 



" llth. The ' canal system ' is composed of serpentine, or 

 raalacolite. Its typical kinds in the first of these minerals 

 may be traced in all stages of formation out of plates, prisms, 

 and other solids, undergoing a process of superficial decretion. 

 Those in malacolite are made up of crystals — single, or aggre- 

 gated together — that have had their planes, angles, and edges 

 rounded ofi"; or have become further reduced by some solvent. 



"12th. The 'canal system' in its remarkable branching 

 varieties is completely paralleled by crystalline configurations 

 in the coccolite marble of Aker, in Sweden; and in the 

 crevices of a crystal of spinel imbedded in a calcitic matrix 

 from Amity, Isew York. 



"13th. The configurations, presumed to represent the 'canal 

 systems,' are totally ivitliout any regularity of form, of relative 

 size, or of arrangement ; and they occur independently of and 

 apart from other ' eozoonal features' (Amity, Boden, etc.); 

 facts not only demonstrating them to be purely mineral 

 products, but which strike at the root of the idea that they are 

 of organic origin. 



" 1-ith. In answer to the argument that as all the foregoing 

 ' eozoonal features ' are occasionally found together in ophite, 

 the combination must be considered a conclusive evidence of 

 their organic origin, we have shown, from the composition, 

 physical characters, and circumstances of occurrence and 

 association of their component serpentine, that they represent 

 the structural and chemical changes which are eminently and 

 peculiarly characteristic of this mineral. It has also been 

 shown that the combination is paralleled to a remarkable 

 extent in chondrodite and its calcitic matrix. 



'•■ 15th. The ' regular alternation of lamellae of calcareous and 

 silicious minerals ' (respectively representing the ' inter- 

 mediate skeleton ' and ' chamber casts ') occasionally seen in 

 ophite, and considered to be a ' fundamental fact ' evidencing 

 an organic arrangement, is proved to be a mineralogical 



