CHAPTER XXIV 
ARCHEAN AND PALEOZOIC GEOGRAPHY OF THE 
UNITED STATES 
A Speculation concerning the Earliest Earth History. 
—Since so little is known concerning the rocks of 
the Archean, and since it is not certain even what 
rocks belong to this period, it is difficult to say much 
about the conditions existing during this ancient time. 
Nor are we able to do more than to speculate with 
regard to the history of the earth before the Archean. 
Therefore if we would gain a glimpse of the con- 
ditions of these early times, we must resort to specu- 
lation. If we were studying the known history of 
man, we would naturally desire to know something 
with regard to his probably early history, before he 
made definite records of his doings. So in geology, 
it is interesting to speculate about the early develop- 
ment, before we commence to interpret the later and 
better known portions of this history. Such specu- 
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