114 THE DAWN OF LIFE 



work to that time, was published, under the name of the 

 " Geology of Canada," and in this, at page 49, will be found 

 two figures of one of the Calumet specimens, here reproduced, 

 and which, though unaccompanied with any specific name or 

 technical description, were referred to as probably Laurentian 

 fossils. (Figs. 5 and 6.) 



About this time Dr. Hunt happened to mention to me, in 

 connection with a paper on the mineralization of fossils which 

 he was preparing, that he proposed to notice the mode of 

 preservation of certain fossil woods and other things with 

 which I was familiar, and that he would show me the paper in 

 proof, in order that I might give him any suggestions that 

 occurred to me. On reading it, I observed, among other 

 things, that he alluded to the supposed Laurentian fossils, 

 under the impression that the organic part was represented by 

 the serpentine or loganite, and that the calcareous matter was 

 the filling of the chambers. I took exception to this, stating 

 that though in the slices I had examined no structure was 

 apparent, still my impression was that the calcareous matter 

 was the fossil, and the serpentine or loganite the filling. He 

 said " In that case, would it not be well to re-examine the 

 specimens, and try to discover which view is correct ? " He 

 mentioned, at the same time, that Sir William had recently 

 shown him some new and beautiful specimens collected by Mr. 

 Lowe, one of the explorers on the staff of the Survey, from a 

 third locality, at Grenville, on the Ottawa. It was supposed 

 that these might 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 



