THE DAWN OF LIFE III 



section, Fig. 2, page 101, taken from Sir William Logan, shows 

 its relation to the other Laurentian rocks. 



We may now notice the manner in which the specimens 

 discovered in this and other places in the Laurentian country 

 came to be regarded as organic. 



It is a trite remark that most discoveries are made, not by one 

 person, but by the joint exertions of many, and that they have 

 their preparations made often long before they actually appear. 

 For this reason I may be excused here for introducing some 

 personal details in relation to the discovery of Eozoon, and 

 which are indeed necessary in vindication of its claims. In this 

 case the stable foundations were laid years before the discovery 

 of Eozoon, by the careful surveys made by Sir William Logan 

 and his assistants, and the chemical examination of the rocks 

 and minerals by Dr. Sterry Hunt, which established beyond all 

 doubt the great age and truly bedded character of the Lauren- 

 tian rocks and their probable original nature, and the changes 

 which they have experienced in the course of geological time. 

 On the other hand, Dr. Carpenter and others in England were 

 examining the structure of the shells of the humbler inhabitants 

 of the modern ocean, and the manner in which the pores of 

 their skeletons become infiltrated with mineral matter when 

 deposited in the sea bottom. These laborious and apparently 

 dissimilar branches of scientific inquiry were destined to be 

 united by a series of happy discoveries, made not fortuitously 

 but by painstaking and intelligent observers. The discovery 

 of the most ancient fossil was thus not the chance picking up 

 of a rare and curious specimen. It was not likely to be found 

 in this way ; and if so found, it would have remained unnoticed 

 and of no scientific value, but for the accumulated stores of 

 zoological and palaeontological knowledge, and the surveys 

 previously made, whereby the age and distribution of the 

 Laurentian rocks and the chemical conditions of their deposi- 

 tion and metamorphism were ascertained. 



