Xll INTRODUCTION. 



1865. The following letter appeared in the 'Reader,' June 10, 1865, 



p. 660 : 



" The Eozoon Canadense. 



" Queen's College, Galway, June 3, 1865. 



"We beg permission to publish the following statement 

 through the medium of your widely-circulated Journal : 



" For several weeks past we have been engaged in investigating 

 the microscopic structure of the serpentine of Connemara in 

 comparison with that of a similar rock occurring in Canada, 

 which has attracted so much attention of late. For a consider- 

 able portion of the time we entertained the opinion, in common 

 with Sir William Logan, Drs. Dawson, Sterry Hunt, Carpenter, 

 and Professor Rupert Jones, that the Canadian serpentine is of 

 organic origin, the result of the growth of an extinct foraminifer 

 called Eozoon Canadense ; it was also our belief for a while that 

 the Connemara rock had originated from a similar organism. 

 Gradually of late, however, we have been reluctantly compelled 

 to change our opinions. 



" It is now our conviction that all the parts, in serpentine, 

 which have been taken for the skeleton- structures of a forami- 

 nifer are nothing more than the effect of crystallization and 

 segregation. 



"It would have given us unalloyed pleasure, had we been 

 able to state that our investigations had confirmed those of the 

 eminent authorities to whom reference has been made, as it was 

 purely in this spirit that we commenced our labours ; and also, 

 we may observe, with the desire to ascertain if the serpentine of 

 Connemara and the other rocks with which it is interstratified, 

 belonged to the Laurentian period. 



e ' We purpose at an early opportunity to lay before the public 

 all the evidences and considerations which bear us out in our 



present opinion. 



" We are, Sir, yours very truly &c., 



' ' WILLIAM KING, Professor of Mineralogy and Geology. 

 "THOMAS H. ROWNEY, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry." 





