544 



that envelope would closely resemble Eonoon* Further, as Professor 

 Huxley has proved the existence of Bathybius through a great range 

 not merely of depth but of temperature, I cannot but think it probable 

 that it has existed continuously in the deep seas of all geological 

 epochs. And so far, therefore, from considering that the discovery of 

 Eozoonal rock in the Liassic, or even in Tertiary strata, would (as 

 asser-tedf by Professors King and Eowney in a Paper recently presented 

 to the Geological Society) be a conclusive disproof of its organic origin, 

 I am fully prepared to believe that Eo%oon, as well as Bathybim, may 

 have maintained its existence through the whole duration of geological 

 time, from its first appearance to the present epoch ; and should be not 

 in the least surprised at bringing it up from 1000 or 2000 fathoms, 

 if I should be enabled to dredge at those depths."! The loose logic, 

 inexcusable misstatements, and unbounded faith, characteristic of this 

 extract, fully prepare us for the announcement, after the projected 

 dredging expedition in the North Atlantic is over, that its author is 

 enabled to place before the Royal Society "eozoonal" embodiments of 

 the " spirits" he may bring up "from the vasty deep." 



6. Conclusion. 



i 



Looking merely at the granules and segmented plates of serpentine 

 in " eozoonal ophite," their interposed calcite, and the arborescent 

 forms enclosed in the latter, Dr. Dawson was to some extent justified 

 in believing that collectively these " features" represent a fossil 

 foraminifer; looking at the " asbestiform layer" in its "true" or 

 " typical" state, here and there investing the granules and plates, Dr. 

 Carpenter's belief, that it formed the " proper wall" of the foraminifer, 

 was in some respects plausible. But this is all we can admit. Up 

 to the points mentioned, Drs. Dawson and Carpenter laboured assi- 

 duously, and with considerable success. Instead, however, of proceeding 

 farther, they abruptly closed their investigations, as if the question 

 were a purely foraminiferal one. They tested their " creature of the 



* Compare the description of Bathybius, over leaf, with this statement : also 

 consider that Dr. Carpenter has diagnosed " Eozoon" with structural characters which 

 would entitle it to be placed in the nummuline or highest group of the testaceous 

 Rhizopods ; while Ernst Hackel would place Bathybius, if he believes in it, in his group 

 Monera, which comprises " organisms occupying not only the simplest, but the simplest 

 conceivable position of living matter." See " Quar. Jour, of Mic. Soc," vol. ix. 



f This statement does not agree with our assertion, which referred solely to metamor- 

 phic rocks of different geological periods. 



J "Proceedings of Royal Society," No. 107, p. 191, December 17, 1868. As some 

 of our readers may desire to have further information respecting the foraminiferal mud 

 occurring at great depths, we beg to refer them to some Papers by one of us in 

 " Nautical Magazine,'" 1862 ; and " Fraser's Magazine," October, 1863, " On Certain 

 Physical and Natural History Phenomena of the Atlantic." It need scarcely be men- 

 tioned that mud of the kind brought up from the bottom of the Atlantic, off the west 

 coast of Ireland, at depths varying from 1000 to 1750 fathoms, does not contain a 

 particle of "eozoonal" structures. 



