OBJECTIONS AGAINST EVOLUTION. 177 



life on the earth must date back much farther than is 

 commonly thought. Not long since, it was the gen- 

 eral opinion, that the first living organisms had their 

 origin in the lower strata of the Silurian Age, but 

 since then the Cambrian, the Huronian, and the 

 Laurentian formations have been discovered, the 

 united thickness of which, according to the eminent 

 geologist, Sir W. Logan, " may possibly far surpass 

 that of all the succeeding rocks from the base of the 

 Palaeozoic series to the present time," and may, 

 therefore, carry us back to a period so remote, that 

 the oldest Silurian fauna may in comparison be re- 

 garded as comparatively modern. So far as the in- 

 formation of paleontologists now extends, Eozoon 

 Canadense, found even in the lowest deposits of the 

 Laurentian, was the earliest form of life, but it is not 

 impossible that in yet lower strata, beneath the 

 ocean's floor perhaps, there are still more primitive 

 types which as much antedate the time of Eozoon 

 Canadense, as it antedates the advent of the last 

 highest vertebrate. 



Time, Change and Equilibrium. 



But, it will be objected that the existence of such 

 formations implies far more time than geologists can 

 reasonably claim, far more than can be allowed by 

 the almost certain conclusions of thermodynamics 

 and astronomical physics. In reply it will suf- 

 fice to observe, that much, very much, yet remains to 

 be learned, concerning the time which has elapsed 

 since the earth became a fit abode for the lower 

 forms of life, and that until physicists, astronomers 



E. 19 



