CHAPTER III. 



THE HISTORY OF A DISCOVERY. 



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 be- 

 fore they actually appear. 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 examina- 

 tion of the rocks and minerals by Dr. Sterry Hunt. 

 On the other hand, Dr. Carpenter and others in Eng- 

 land 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 dissimi- 

 lar branches of scientific inquiry were destined to be 

 united by a series of happy discoveries, made not for- 

 tuitously 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 zoo- 



