no 



FACTS AND FANCIES 



matter by any spontaneous action, any more 

 than its modern representatives could do so. 

 There is no evidence of its progress by evolu- 

 tion into any higher form, and the group of an- 

 imals to which it belongs has continued to in- 

 habit the oceari throughout geological time with- 

 out any perceptible advance ia rank or com- 

 plexity of structure. If, then, we admit the an- 

 imal nature of this earliest fossil, we can derive 

 from it no evidence of monistic evolution ; and 

 ** if we deny its animal nature, we are confronted 

 with a still graver difficulty in the next succeed- 

 ing formations. 



Between the rocks whicu contain Eozoon and 

 the next in which we find any abundant re- 

 mains of life, there is a gap in geological history, 

 either destitute of evidence of 4ife or showing 

 nothing materially in advance of Eozoon, In 

 the Cambrian Age, however, we obtain a vast 

 and varied accession of life. Here we find evi- 

 dence that the sea swarmed with living crea- 

 tures near akin to those which still inhabit it, 

 and nearly as varied. Referring merely to 

 leading groups, we have here the soft shell- 

 fishes and the worms, the ordinary shellfishes, 

 the sea-stars, and the corals, with the sponges. 

 In short, had we been able to drop our dredge 



