<U4 



KFl'OKT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1904: 



limestone occurring at Chelmsford, Bolton, and Boxboro, in Massa- 

 chusetts, and arrived at the conclusion that the limestones were not 

 themselves of a sedimentary, but a vein-like character, and that con- 

 sequently the Eozoon itself, as there occurring - , must be of mineral 

 and not organic origin. 



Meantime the study of micro-petrography was steadily advancing, 

 and it was noticeable that none of the workers along these newly 

 developed lines of research were disposed to regard the Eozoon as of 

 other than inorganic origin. Prof. T. G. Bonney, of St. John's Col- 

 lege, Cambridge, England, who in 1876 announced his opposition to 

 the theory of organic origin, in 1884 visited one of the most noted of 

 the Canadian localities in company with Doctor Dawson, and published 

 the results of his observations in the Geological Magazine for 1895, 

 but contented himself with describing the mode of occurrence and 

 structure of the mass without committing himself further as to its 



^v>';#-~-^fe^ ■ ^^s 





Fig. 129.— Diagram of eozoonal rock at C6te St. Pierre. The closely dotted part is pyroxene or ser- 

 pentine; the top mass being about 2 feet 3 inches long. The zones of "Eozoon" are indicated by 

 the broken wavy lines generally surrounding these masses. The remainder of the rock is white 

 crystalline limestone spotted with granular serpentine. (After T. G. Bonney,) 



origin. From this paper was taken the accompanying figure. His 

 conclusions so far as given were to the effect that the Eozoon often 

 occurs in close relation, on the one hand, with a fundamental mass of 

 almost pure pyroxene (or serpentine resulting from its alteration); or, 

 on the other hand, with a fairly large mass of crystalline limestone 

 containing more or less numerous grains of pyroxene or serpentine. 

 He found nothing to lead him to think the P^ozooiial specimens were 

 blocks of foreign material metamorphosed by becoming included in 

 either a volcanic or plutonic mass as has been suggested (see p. 645). 

 The structure, to his mind, ottered a choice between two interpreta- 

 tions only. It "is either a record of an organism or a very peculiar 

 and exceptional condition of a pyroxene marble of Laurentian age." 



