266 M. Otto Hahn on Eozoon canadense. 



do this as I commenced a work which concerned not only natu- 

 ralists but men in general. Every one must feel that investi- 

 gations into the history of Creation are family affairs. Hence 

 the existence of some anxiety was not to be wondered at ; 

 but it excites more astonishment to see how easily many throw 

 off their clothing and spring into the stream. The nature and 

 method of my work may show that I did not commence with 

 preconceptions. 



A very great deal has already been written on the question. 

 The results of my investigation have, I think, finally settled 

 it. By my investigation it is established that there is no 

 gigantic Foraminifer in serpentine limestone. 



My investigations have shown that the most essential cha- 

 racters of the Foraminifera, the chambers and the test, are 

 not there, but that we have to do with pure rock-formations, 

 such as occur everywhere in serpentine. But if these two 

 characters are wanting, there remain only the canal-systems ; 

 and these I have also recognized in gneiss, and at the same 

 time discovered their real significance. 



The zoologists may now furnish their reply. The material 

 that I have made use of I will with pleasure place in their 

 hands. 



In order to let the opponents of the opinion maintained by 

 me give full expression to their views, 1 will allow Dr. William 

 (Jarpenter himself to speak. In his work * The Microscope 

 and its Revelations ' (London, ed. 4, 1868) he describes and 

 discusses Eozoon as follows : — 



11. 



" § 396. A most remarkable fossil, referable to the Forami- 

 niferal type, has been recently discovered in strata much older 

 than the very earliest that were previously known to contain 

 organic remains ; and the determination of its real character 

 may be regai-ded as one of the most interesting results of 

 microscopic research. This fossil, which has received the 

 name Eozoon canadense, is found in beds of serpentine lime- 

 stone that occur near the base of the Laurentian Formation'^ 

 of Canada, which has its parallel in Europe in the Funda- 

 mental Gneiss of Bohemia and Bavaria and in the very 

 earliest stratified rocks of Scandinavia and Scotland. These 



* " This Laurentian Formation was first identified as a regular series 

 of stratified rocks, underlying the equivalents not merely of the Silurian, 

 but also of the Upper and Lower Cambrian systems of this country, by 

 Sir William Logan, the accomplished Director of the Geological Survey 

 of Canada." 



