EfeUMl5, AND GENEKAL DISCUSSION. 



537 



The supposed fossils were examined by Principal J. W. Dawson, who 

 pointed out their resemblance to parts of Ilydroids, Bryozoans, Ento- 

 mostracans, and some Devonian plants, or lastly to some supposed 

 Laurentian fossils of Giimbel. He also says : *' On the whole, though 

 these objects are unlike any purely mineral substance with which I am 

 acquainted, and are probably fragments of some organic body, I do not 

 think it possible at present to indicate with any certainty their probable 

 affinities." * These fossils also appear to have received Dr. Hunt's in- 

 dorsement.! 



Later, Dr. Hawes, having in the mean time studied in Europe, frankly 



acknoAvlcdgcd that his supposed fossils were simply the alteration pro- 

 ducts of titaniferous iron, stating: "The other gentlemen who have 

 seen these specimens, and have published opinions in reference to them, 

 are very excusable, on the ground that they [Dawson and Hunt] saw 

 but single specimens, and are not professed experts in microscopic min- 

 eralogy. The author has paid some attention to the subject, under 

 competent instruction, since the paper referred to was published." t 



In view of what has been stated above, it would seem that Messrs. 

 Dawson and Carpenter ought not again to claim to have any right to 

 the expression of an opinion on points like those involved in the 

 question of the organic character of the Eozoon, since they have both 

 shown themselves entirely unacquainted with elementary mineralogy 

 and lithology. 



Of all the upholders of the organic nature of the Eozoon, there is no 

 one whose work is so curious and instructive — from the point of view 

 of one desirous of ascertaining how far the determination to find traces 

 of life in everything can carry an observer — as is that of Otto Hahn. 

 This author is an entire believer in the organic character of Eozoon ; 

 but is surprised that any one should be so blind as not to recognize that 

 it is a plant. § Fifteen different plant forms are described by him as 

 made out from his Eozoon sections, and each is gifted with a distinct 

 name. One animal appears to have had the exclusive range of this 

 wonderful vegetation, the Titanus Bismarki I The title of the work in 



* Am. Jour. Sci., 1876 (3), XII. 395. 



t Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1876, XXV. 208. 



X Geology of New Hampshire, III., Part IV. pp. 40, 41 ; Am. Jour. Sci., 1878 (3), 

 XVI. 396. 



§ " When I now look tkrough my thin sections and fnid in them the plainest evi- 

 dences of reproductive cells (Brutzellen) belonging to the plant, .... I am obliged 

 to believe that all those who worked at the Eozoon, myself included, were smitten 

 with blindness." (Ilahn, Die Urzelle, etc., p. 19.) 



