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to ask him at the time, to be good enough to explain, whether 
he thinks, or knows, that the foraminifera of the Atlantic 
ooze are merely deposited when dead, (for he had spoken of 
their “ exuviae,”) and by simply sinking down in that con- 
dition to the bottom of the ocean ; or whether he thinks, or 
knows, that they are still alive at the bottom, and propagating 
their species there ; in which case, 1 pointed out, the so- 
called (C deposit ” of ooze would not be a mere sedimentary 
deposit; for it would then chiefly grow by accretions to its surface 
at the bottom of the ocean, though it might also be increased 
from the sediment in the waters falling down from above. I 
do not know whether the idea had ever before occurred to him. 
Perhaps — as a new idea coming from one not within his circle of 
“ scientific men,” it may have struck him as not worth con- 
sidering, or as merely absurd to suppose that the foraminifera 
are actually breeding now at the bottom of the Atlantic. 
And perhaps they do not breed there. But, if not, they must 
have been bred elsewhere. They are living organisms ; and 
they are of that lowest class that generally increase and mul- 
tiply with the most marvellous fecundity. And what I 
wanted to know was, what is the “ scientific doctrine ” 
respecting the Atlantic ooze, in order to discover, whether 
there was a true analogy and any cogency in the argument, 
in favour of the “ scientific doctrine ” that the old chalk 
formations were formed, or “ deposited,” identically as the 
Atlantic ooze is now. Professor Huxley, I am sorry to say, 
did not favour me with any reply to this inquiry. Perhaps, 
like some other professors I know, he does not like to be 
examined ! 
In the absence, then, of Professor Huxley 5 s express teaching, 
I may say, that I am told that one scientific doctrine about 
the ooze is, that the gulf stream carries into the North 
Atlantic great quantities of the foraminifera, which are partly 
caught by or cling to jelly-fish, and partly sink to the 
bottom. Perhaps it is not really known whether when in the 
ooze they are still alive, and able to reproduce themselves, or 
not. But, if not there, I must repeat, they must have been 
bred somewhere else ; and I think it must be admitted, that 
where they breed there they must accumulate with an infinitely 
greater rapidity than where they, or their exuviae, merely sink 
when dead to the bottom, after escaping the jelly-fish and 
such other inhabitants of the deep as may relish that kind of 
food. And again comes, of course, the question — towards 
the solution of which, however. Professor Huxley contributed 
nothing, — Is the old chalk merely also a deposit of dead 
foraminifera (if such be the character of the ooze of the 
