ADDRESS. IXXV 



as also the doctrine of abrupt transitions from one set of species of animals 

 and plants to another of a very diiferent type, yet the whole series of the 

 records which have been handed down to us are now more than ever regarded 

 as fragmentary. They ought to be looked upon as more perfect, because 

 numerous gaps have been filled up, and in the formations newly intercalated 

 in the series we have foimd many missing Unks and various intermediate 

 gradations between the nearest allied forms previously known in the animal 

 and vegetable worlds. Yet the whole body of monuments which we arc 

 endeavouring to decipher appears more defective than before. Tor my own 

 part, I agree with Mr. Darwin in considering them as a mere fraction of 

 those which have once existed, while no approach to a perfect series was 

 ever formed originally, it having never been part of the plan of Nature to 

 leave a complete record of all her works and operations for the enlightenment 

 of rational beings who might study them in after- ages. 



In reference to the other great question, or the earliest date of vital 

 phenomena on this planet, the late discoveries in Canada have at least demon- 

 strated that certain theories founded in Europe on mere negative evidence 

 were altogether delusive. In the course of a geological survey, carried 

 on under the able direction of Sir WiUiam E. Logan, it has been shown that 

 northward of the river St. Lawrence there is a vast series of stratified and 

 crystalline rocks of gneiss, mica-schist, quartzite, and hmestone, about 

 40,000 feet in thickness, which have been called Laiirentian. They are more 

 ancient than the oldest fossihferous strata of Europe, or those to which the 

 term primordial had been rashly assigned. In the first place, the newest part 

 of this great crystalline series is unconformable to the ancient fossiliferous 

 or so-caUed primordial rocks which overlie it ; so that it must have undergone 

 disturbing movements before the latter or primordial set were formed. Then 

 again, the older half of the Laurentian series is unconformable to the newer 

 portion of the same. It is in this lowest and most ancient system of crystal- 

 line strata that a limestone, about a thousand feet thick, has been observed, 

 containing organic remarus. These fossils have been examined by Dr. 

 Dawson, of Montreal, and he has detected in them, by aid of the micro- 

 scope, the distinct structure of a large species of Rhizopod. Fine specimens 

 of this fossil, called Eozoon Caiutdense, have been brought to 15ath by Sir 

 William Logan, to be exhibited to the members of the Association. We have 

 every reason to suppose that the rocks in which these animal remains are 

 included are of as old a date as any of the formations named azoic in Europe, 

 if not older, so that they preceded in date rocks once supposed to have been 

 formed before any organic beings had been created. 



But I wiU not venture on speculations respecting " the signs of a begin- 

 ning," or " the prospects of an end," of our terrestrial system — that wide 

 ocean of scientific conjecture on which so many theorists before my time have 

 suffered shipwreck. Without trespassing longer on your time, I will conclude 

 by expressing to you my thanks for the honour you have done me in asking 

 me to preside over this Meeting. I have every reason to hope, from the 

 many members and distinguished strangers whom I already see assembled 

 here, that it will not be inferior in interest to any of the gatherings which 

 have preceded it. 



