OPPONENTS AND OBJECTIONS. 175 



generation to give place to others. If any part of our 

 work should stand the fire of discussion let us be 

 thankful. One thing at least is certain, that such 

 careful surveys as those in the Laurentian rocks of 

 Canada which led to the discovery of Eozoon, and 

 such microscopic examinations as those by which it 

 has been worked up and presented to the public, 

 cannot fail to yield good results of one kind or 

 another. Already the attention excited by the con- 

 troversies about Eozoon, by attracting investigators 

 to the study of various microscopic and imitative 

 forms in rocks, has promoted the advancement of 

 knowledge, and must do so still more. For my own 

 part, though I am not content to base all my reputa- 

 tion on such work as I have done with respect to this 

 old fossil, I am willing at least to take the responsi- 

 bility of the results I have announced, whatever con- 

 clusions may be finally reached ; and in the conscious- 

 ness of an honest effort to extend the knowledge of 

 nature, to look forward to a better fame than any 

 that could result from the most successful and per- 

 manent vindication of every detail of our scientific 

 discoveries, even if they could be pushed to a point 

 which no subsequent investigation in the same difficult 

 line of research would be able to overpass. 



Contenting myself with these general remarks, I 

 shall, for the benefit of those who relish geological 

 controversy, append to this chapter a summary of the 

 objections urged by the most active opponents of the 

 animal nature of Eozoon, with the replies that may be 



