20 THE DAWN OF LIFE. 



existence of supposed organic remains was announced 

 by Sir W. Logan, at the American Association for tlie 

 Advancement of Science^ in Springfield, in 1859; and 

 we may now proceed to narrate the manner of this 

 discovery, and how it has been followed up. 



Before doing so, however, let us visit Eozoon in one 

 of its haunts among the Laurentian Hills. One of 

 the most noted repositories of its remains is the great 

 Grenville band of limestone (see section, fig. 3, and 

 map), the outcrop of which may be seen in our map of 

 the country near the Ottawa, twisting itself like a great 

 serpent in the midst of the gneissose rocks ; and one 

 of the most fruitful localities is at a place called 

 Cote St. Pierre on this band. Landing, as I did, with 

 Mr. Weston, of the Geological Survey, last autumn, at 

 Papineauville, we find ourselves on the Laurentian 

 rocks, and pass over one of the great bands of gneiss 

 for about twelve miles, to the village of St. Andre 

 Avelin. On the road we see on either hand abrupt 

 rocky ridges, partially clad with forest, and sometimes 

 showing on their flanks the stratification, of the gneiss 

 in very distinct parallel bands, often contorted, as if 

 the rocks, when soft, had been wrung as a washer- 

 woman wrings clothes. Between the hills are little 

 irregular valleys, from which the wheat and oats have 

 just been reaped, and the tall Indian corn and yellow 

 pumpkins are still standing in the fields. Where not 

 cultivated, the land is covered with a rich second 

 growth of young maples, birches, and oaks, among 

 which still stand the stumps and tall scathed trunks of 



