THE DAWN OF LIFE 



eminent authorities would confirm my conclusions, and bring 

 forward new facts which I might have overlooked or been 

 ignorant of. Sir William saw both gentlemen, who gave their 

 testimony in favour of the organic and foraminiferal character 

 of the specimens ; and Dr. Carpenter, in particular, gave much 

 attention to the subject, and worked out more in detail many 

 of the finer structures, besides contributing valuable suggestions 

 as to the probable affinities of the supposed fossil. 



Dr. Carpenter thus contributed in a very important manner 

 to the perfecting of the investigations begun in Canada, and on 

 him fell the greater part of their illustration and defence, 1 in so 

 far as Great Britain is concerned. 



The immediate result was a composite paper in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Geological Society, by Sir W. E. Logan, Dr. Car- 

 penter, Dr. Hunt, and myself, in which the geology, palaeonto- 

 logy and mineralogy of Eozoon Canadense and its containing 

 rocks were first given to the world. 2 It cannot be wondered at 

 that when geologists and palaeontologists were thus required to 

 believe in the existence of organic remains in rocks regarded as 

 altogether Azoic and hopelessly barren of fossils, and to carry 

 back the dawn of life as far before those Primordial rocks, 

 which were supposed to contain its first traces, as these are 

 before the middle period of the earth's life history, some hesita- 

 tion should be felt. Further, the accurate appreciation of the 

 evidence for such a fossil as Eozoon required an amount of 

 knowledge of minerals, of the more humble types of animals, 

 and of the conditions of mineralization of organic remains, pos- 

 sessed by few even of professional geologists. Thus Eozoon has 

 met with some scepticism and not a little opposition, though 

 the latter has been weaker than we might have expected when 



1 In Quarterly Journal of Geological Society, vol. xxii. ; Prof. Royal 

 Society ', vol. xv. ; Intellectual Observer, 1865. Annals and Magazine of 

 Natural History, 1874 ; and other papers and notices. 



2 Journal Geological Society, February, 1865. 



