Geological Record of Life. 153 



* 



None of those phenomena therefore which depend 

 upon the special solar energy, could as yet appear 

 upon the earth, when, beginning a new phase of 

 activity, it now put forth the simplest forms of life, 

 or, as Moses says, it " brought forth the green herb, 

 and such as may seed." Here is the cell and cel- 

 lular life, for the first time. It is noteworthy that 

 the lowest kind of plant, and the lowest kind of 

 animal, protophyte and protozoon as they are 

 called, do not require the sun's special activity for 

 their development. More than that: there are 

 herbaceous trees, rich in pith, which, unlike the 

 forest trees that grow by concentric rings in the re- 

 volving seasons, require no more conditions for their 

 life than then prevailed, a warm soil, great humid- 

 ity, an atmosphere saturated with carbonic acid gas. 

 At this age then, besides the low form of vegeta- 

 tion which spread over the marshy land, there 

 came upon the earth a carboniferous period, called 

 by geologists the paradise of vegetation. Now was 

 laid up a great part of that carbonized fibre, with 

 which man would yet make himself comfortable, 

 and make other resources of the earth useful, by 

 mining it as coal, — a permanent reservoir of so 

 much heat and activity once lavishly spent upon 

 the globe in preparation for his coming. 



169. The great nebulous mass in the centre, 

 which had thrown off the earth as a ring 



. i i r i • Fourth Day. 



or a planet to wander thenceforth in an 



orbit of its own, threw off its last contribution to 



