the Subject of ^^ ^ozoony 395 



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

 of organic origin. 



14th. In answer to the argument that, as all the " eozoonal 

 features " are occasionally found together in ophite, the com- 

 bination must be considered a conclusive evidence of their 

 organic origin, we have shown, from the composition, phy- 

 sical characters, and circumstances of occurrence and asso- 

 ciation of their component sei-pentine, 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 parallel to a remarkable extent 

 in chondrodite and its calcitic matrix f. 



loth. The " regular alternation of lamelhe of calcareous and 

 siliceous minerals" (respectively representing the " interme- 

 diate skeleton " and " chamber-casts "j occasionally seen in 

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

 an organic arrangement, is proved to be a mineralogical phe- 

 nomenon by the fact that a similar alternation occurs in 

 amphiboline-calcitic marbles and gneissose rocks J. 



16th. In order to account for certain untoioard difficulties 

 presented by the configurations forming the " canal-system " 

 and the aciculte of the " nummuline layer " — that is, when oc- 

 curring as " sol id bundles y'' or when they are " closelij jpacked^^ 

 or '■'■appear to he glued together y'' — Dr. Carpenter has proposed 

 the theory that the sarcodic extensions which they are presumed 

 to represent have been " tm-ned into stone" (a "siliceous mine- 

 ral"; "by Nature's cunning" ("just as the sarcodic layer on 

 the surface of the shell of living Foraminifers is formed by the 

 spreading out of coalesced bundles of the pseudopodia that have 

 emerged from the chamber-wall ") — " by a process of chemical 

 substitution hefore their destruction by ordinary decomposi- 

 tion "§. We showed this quasi-alchymical theory to be alto- 

 gether unscientific ii. 



17th. The "siliceous mineral" (serpentine) has been ana- 

 logued with those (generalized as glauconite) forming the 

 variously produced casts of recent and fossil Foraminifers. 

 We have shown that the mineral silicates of ''Eozoon " have 

 no relation whatever to the substances composing such casts. 



18th. Dr. Sterry Hunt, in order to account for the serpentine, 



* Proc. Royal Irish Academy, vol. x. pp. 533, 534, 535. 



t Quarterly Journal Geolog-ical Society, vol. xadi. pi. xiv. figs. 5 & 6, 

 p. 197. 



\ Quarterly Journal Geological Society, toI. xxii. p. 210; Proc. Royal 

 Irish Academy, vol. x. p. 523. 



§ Intellectual Observer, vol. "vii. uncoloured plate, fig. 2, a, pp, 292, 294, 

 290 ; Quarterly Journal (jeological Society, vol. xxii. p. 222. 



II Quarterly Journal Geological Society, vol. xxii. p. 202 : Proc. Roval 

 Irish Academy, vol. x. pp. 537 & .WS. 



