40 THE DAWN OF LIFE. 



throw further light on the subject; and accordingly 

 Dr. Hunt suggested to Sir William to have additional 

 slices of these new specimens made by Mr. Weston, of 

 the Survey, whose skill as a preparer of these and 

 other fossils has often done good service to science. 

 A few days thereafter, some slices were sent to me, 

 and were at once put under the microscope. I was 

 delighted to find in one of the first specimens examined 

 a beautiful group of tubuli penetrating one of the 

 calcite layers. Here was evidence, not only that the 

 calcite layers represented the true skeleton of the 

 fossil, but also of its affinities with the Foraminifera, 

 whose tubulated supplemental skeleton, as described 

 and figured by Dr. Carpenter, and represented in speci- 

 mens in my collection presented by him, was evidently 

 of the same type with that preserved in the canals of 

 these ancient fossils. Fig. 10 is an accurate represen- 

 tation of the first seen group of canals penetrated by 

 serpentine. 



On showing the structures discovered to Sir William 

 Logan, he entered into the matter with enthusiasm, 

 and had a great number of slices and afterwards of 

 decalcified specimens prepared, which were placed in 

 my hands for examination. 



Feeling that the discovery was most important, but 

 that it would be met with determined scepticism by a 

 great many geologists, I was not content with examin- 

 ing the typical specimens of Eozoon, but had slices 

 prepared of every variety of Laurentian limestone, of 

 altered limestones from the Primordial and Silurian, 



