THE 



CANADIAN NATURALIST 



SECOND SERIES. 



ON THE LAUKENTIAN ROCKS OF BAVARIA. 



By Dr. Guhbel, Director of the Geological Survey of Bavaria ; with a 

 plate containing figures of tAvo species of Eozoon. 



Translated from the Proceedings of the Royal Bavarian Academy for 1866, by 

 Professor Markgraf.* 



The discovery of organic remains in the crystalline limestones 

 of the ancient gneiss of Canada, for which we are indebted to 

 the researches of Sir William Logan and his colleagues, and to 

 the careful microscopic investigations of Drs. Dawson and 

 Carpenter, must be regarded as opening a new era in geological 

 science. 



This discovery overturns at once the notions hitherto commonly 

 entertained with regard to the origin of the stratified primary 

 limestones, and their accompanying gneissic and quartzose strata, 

 included under the general name of primitive crystalline schists. 

 It shows us that these crystalline stratified rocks, of the so-called 

 primary system, are only a backward prolongation of the chain of 

 fossiliferous strata ; the ' elements of which were deposited as 

 oceanic sediment, like the clay-slates, limestones and sandstones of 

 the paleozoic formations, and under similar conditions, though at 

 a time far more remote, and more favorable to the generation of 

 crystalline mineral compounds. 



In this discovery of organic remains in the primary rocks, we 

 hail with joy the dawn of a new epoch in the critical history of 

 these earlier formations. Already, in its light, the primeval 

 geologic time is seen to be everywhere animated, and peopled with 

 new animal forms, of whose very existence we had previously no 

 suspicion. Life, which had hitherto been supposed to have first 



^Editor's Xote. — In revising and preparing this for the press, the 

 original paper has been considerably abridged by the omission of 

 portions, whose place is indicated in the text. Some explanatory notes 

 have also been added. — T. S. H. 



Vol. Ill P No. 2 



