f 



222 



RELICS OF PRIMEVAL LIFE 



;if| 



■ \ 





I 



■'I 



»>^ 



S^^ii ij 







I confess that I feel disposed to treat very ten- 

 derly the position of objectors. The facts I have 

 stated make large demands on the faith of the 

 greater part even of naturalists. Very few geolo- 

 gists or naturalists have much knowledge of the 

 structure of foraminiferal shells, or would be able 

 under the microscope to recognise them with cer- 

 tainty. Nor have they any distinct ideas of the 

 appearances of such structures under different 

 kinds of preservation and mineralization. Further, 

 they have long been accustomed to regard the so- 

 called Azoic or Archaean rocks as not only desti- 

 tute of organic remains, but as being in such a 

 state of metamorphism that these could not have 

 been preserved had they existed. Few, therefore, 

 are able intelligently to decide for themselves, and 

 so they are called on to trust to the investigations 

 of others, and on their testimony to modify in a 

 marked degree their previous beliefs as to the 

 duration of life on our planet. In these circum- 

 stances it is rather wonderful that the researches 

 made with reference to Eozoon have met with so 

 general acceptance, and that the resurrection of 

 this ancient inhabitant of the earth has not 

 aroused more of the sceptical tendency of our age. 



