CONTEMPORARIES AND SUCCESSORS OF EOZOON. 141 



of Bavaria,, is one of tlie most active and widely in- 

 formed of European geologists^ combining European 

 knowledge with an extensive acquaintance witli tlie 

 larger and in some respects more typical areas of tlie 

 older rocks in America^ and stratigraphical geology 

 with enthusiastic interest in the microscopic structures 

 of fossils. H© at once and in a most able manner took 

 up the question of the application of the discoveries 

 in Canada to the rocks of Bavaria. The spirit in 

 which he did so may be inferred from the following 

 extract : — 



^^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 micro- 

 scopic 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 crystalhne stratified rocks, of 

 the so-called primary system, are only a backward 

 prolongation of the chain of fossihferous 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 favour- 



