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First, we have the Azoic period, devoid of life, as its name signifies, namely, the earliest stratified deposits upon the heated film forming the first solid surface of the earth, in which no trace of living thing has ever been found.
T. Sterry Hunt asserted "that the presence of iron ores, not less than that of graphite, points to the existence of organic life even during the Laurentian or so-called Azoic period." In 1861 he went farther and stated his belief in "the existence of an abundant vegetation during the Laurentian period."
What European countries loom up for us out of the Azoic sea, corresponding in time and character to the low range of hills which first defined the northern boundary of the United States? what did the Silurian and Devonian epochs add to these earliest tracts of dry land in the Old World? and where do we find the coal basins which show us the sites of her Carboniferous forests?
If the great deposit of "red clay" now forming in the eastern valley of the Atlantic were metamorphosed into slate and then upheaved, it would constitute an "azoic" rock of enormous extent.
Following these general considerations, each great division of geologic time is successively taken up, commencing with the Azoic. Each period of the several divisions is treated of in order; and the rocks of each epoch and their distribution described, first, as they exhibit themselves in America, then, more briefly, as they appear in Europe.
I swam out into it for a considerable distance, then lay upon my back on, rather than in, the water, and suffered the breeze to waft me landward again. I was blown to a spot where the lake was only four inches deep, without grazing my back, and did not know I had got within my depth again until I depressed my hand a trifle and touched bottom! It is a mistake to call this lake azoic.
The progress of life is then described as the basis of subdivision into Geological Ages; and the subdivisions of geological time are presented as follows: I. Azoic Time or Age. II. Palaeozoic Time. 1. The Age of Mollusks, or Silurian. 2. The Age of Fishes, or Devonian. 3. The Age of Coal Plants, or Carboniferous. III. Mesozoic Time. 4. The Age of Reptiles. IV. Cenozoic Time. 5. The Age of Mammals.
I saw in the Grand Cañon of the Colorado where they were laid down horizontally on the old Azoic or original rocks, as if by the hand of a mason building the foundation of a superstructure. All the vast series of limestone rocks are made up from the skeletons of minute living bodies. Other strata of rocks are made up of the skeletons of diatoms.
And then the grotesque caravan of the Azoic motor age, with its flapping curtains and ununiformed youth in visored cap at the wheel. There is undoubtedly an unsavory aspect to this story. For purpose of fiction, it is neither fragrant nor easily digested.
Study the paleontological facts as given by Prof. Frederick McCoy, of the University of Melbourne, in Australia, a gentleman highly distinguished for his learning and research. He has explored portions of that continent as far down as the azoic rocks, and made many important discoveries as to the past life of the globe.
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