228 THE DAWN OF LIFE. 



this way ; (3) that it had in itself unlimited capacities 

 for variation and also for extension in time ; (4) that it 

 tended to multiply rapidly, and at last so to occupy the 

 ocean that a struggle for existence arose; (5) that 

 though at first, from the very nature of its origin, 

 adapted to the conditions of the world, yet as these 

 conditions became altered by physical changes, it 

 was induced to accommodate itself to them, and so 

 to pass into new species and genera, until at last 

 it appeared in entirely new types in the Primordial 

 fauna. 



These assumptions are, with the exception of the 

 first two, merely the application to Eozoon of what 

 have been called the Darwinian laws of multiplication, 

 of limited population, of variation, of change of 

 physical conditions, and of equilibrium of nature. If 

 otherwise proved, and shown to be applicable to crea- 

 tures like Eozoon, of course we must apply them to it ; 

 but in so far as that creature itself is concerned they 

 are incapable of proof, and some of them contrary to 

 such evidence as we have. We have, for example, no 

 connecting Knk between Eozoon and any form of vege- 

 table life. Its structures are such as to enable us at once 

 to assign it to the animal kingdom, and if we seek for 

 connecting links between the lower animals and plants 

 we have to look for them in the modern waters. We 

 have no reason to conclude that Eozoon could multiply 

 so rapidly as to fill all the stations suitable for it, and 

 to commence a struggle for existence. On the con- 

 trary, after the lapse of untold ages the conditions for 



