THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



267 





been built up from the sea since Eoztjon began to 

 exist, — we acquire a most profound impression of 

 the persistence of the lower forms of animal life, 

 and know that mountains may be removed and 

 continents swept away and replaced, before the 

 least of the humble fjelatinous Protozoa can finally 

 perish. Life may be a fleeting thing in the in- 

 dividual, but as handed down through successive 

 generations of beings, and as a constant animating 

 power in successive organisms, it appears, like its 

 Creator, eternal. 



This leads to another and very serious question. 

 How long did lineal descendants of Eozoon exist, 

 and do they still exist ? We may for the present 

 consider this question apart from ideas of derivation 

 and elevation into higher planes of existence of 

 which, in point of fact, we have no actual evidence. 

 Eozoon as a species and even as a genus may cease 

 to exist with the Eozoic age, and we have no proof 

 that any succeeding forms of Pr )tozoa are its modi- 

 fied descendants. Whatever the causes which pro- 

 duced the earliest Protozoan, they may have continued 

 more or less to be operative in succeeding ages. As 

 far as their structures inform us, they may as much 

 claim to be original creations as Eozoon itself Still 



