144 THE DAWN OF LIFE. 



His first discovery is thus recorded,, in terms which 

 show the very close resemblance of the Bavarian and 

 Canadian Eozoic. 



"My discovery of similar organic remains in the 

 serpentine-limestone from near Passau was made in 

 1865, when I had returned from my geological labours 

 of the summer, and received the recently published 

 descriptions of Messrs. Logan, Dawson, etc. Small 

 portions of this rock, gathered in the progress of 

 the Geological Survey in 1854, and ever since pre- 

 served in my collection, having been submitted to 

 microscopic examination, confirmed in the most bril- 

 liant manner the acute judgment of the Canadian geo- 

 logists, and furnished palseontological evidence that, 

 notwithstanding the great distance which separates 

 Canada from Bavaria, the equivalent primitive rocks 

 of the two regions are characterized by similar or- 

 ganic remains; showing at the same time that the 

 law governing the definite succession of organic life 

 on the earth is maintained even in these most ancient 

 formations. The fragments of serpentine-limestone, 

 or ophicalcite, in which I first detected the existence 

 of Eozoon, were like those described in Canada, in 

 which the lamellar structure is wanting, and offer only 

 what Dr. Carpenter has called an acervuline structure. 

 For further confirmation of my observations, I deemed 

 it advisable, through the kindness of Sir Charles Lyell, 

 to submit specimens of the Bavarian rock to the exami- 

 nation of that eminent authority, Dr. Carpenter, who, 

 without any hesitation, declared them tocontain Eozoon. 



