Nature and the Bible A course of lectures delivered in New York, in December, 1874, on the Morse foundation of the Union theological seminary . thelast lecture ; but we may here consider it alittle more in detail. The oldest animal known to geology is theJSozoon Canadense, found in the lowerLaurentian, the most ancient series of rocksknown to us. It is a member of the group ofProtozoa, — very simple, gelatinous animals, asnear in their structure to the elementary ger-minal matter, which seems to be the specialseat of life in all animals, as it is possible forindividual living things to be. The
Nature and the Bible A course of lectures delivered in New York, in December, 1874, on the Morse foundation of the Union theological seminary . thelast lecture ; but we may here consider it alittle more in detail. The oldest animal known to geology is theJSozoon Canadense, found in the lowerLaurentian, the most ancient series of rocksknown to us. It is a member of the group ofProtozoa, — very simple, gelatinous animals, asnear in their structure to the elementary ger-minal matter, which seems to be the specialseat of life in all animals, as it is possible forindividual living things to be. The modernrepresentatives of this group inhabit both theocean and the fresh waters; but it if in theformer that they most abound, and it is therethat they became clothed with calcareousshells, which have accumulated in the sea toform great limestone beds.* The represent- * Doubts have been thrown on the animal nature of Eozoon ;but these seem due rather to preconceived prejudices than to anything defective in the evidence. The whole subject will be fullytreated in a work now in the press, — The Dawn of Life. Seealso Appendix A. SSSaE**. Eozoon Canade?ise, the oldest known of the Sheretzim of the Waters.—Portions ofthe Skeleton, from a nature-print, taken from a specimen etched with laminated portion shows the calcareous skeleton in white. The upperright hand corner shows inorganic limestone and serpentine, with frag-ments of Eozoon. The lower figure is a part of one of the laminse en-larged, showing the tubulated cell-wall at (a), and the SupplementalSkeleton, with canals, at (b). Nature and the Bible. PLATE I. p. 121. FRONTISPIECE. OF ANIMAL LIFE. 121 ative of this group in the Laurentian era wasof gigantic size, forming great reefs of calca-reous rock, after the manner of modern corals,and it seems to have had few if any rivals inthe occupancy of those ancient seas. Theskeleton of Eozoon consisted of a series ofplates of calcareous matter, perforated withpores and
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