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RELICS OF PRIMEVAL LIFE. 
Relics | of | Primeval Life | By | Sir J. Witttam Dawson | K.C.M.G., 
.D., F.R.S. | with Sixty-five illustrations | London | Hodder and 
Stoughton | 27 Paternoster Row | Mpcccxcvil. [Crown 8vo, price 6s. ] 
Unper this title, Messrs: Hodder & Stoughton have recently 
published Sir J. W. Dawson’s latest work. The price is 6s. The 
volume contains xiv. + 336 pages, with numerous illustrations, 
mostly second-hand; a geological map of Ottawa County and 
circumjacent lands, and a chronological life chart after Prof. White. 
Had there been more photographic reproductions instead of the 
somewhat antiquated cuts, we should have had only praise for the 
volume. Perhaps one other saving clause is necessary. The title 
may raise the hopes too high, or convey a false impression. We 
have here no allusion to primeval life so far as man is concerned. 
In reality the volume is a full and careful survey of all that has 
been written on the subject of Zozoon canadense during the last 
fifty years. The history of this puzzling organism practically 
began when Logan entered upon his labours in connection with 
the Geological Survey of Canada in 1840. It was not, however, 
till 1858 that the specimens which were collected began to be 
regarded as organic. When specimens were exhibited in 1859 in 
America, and in 1862 in London, as Laurentian fossils, few were 
disposed to believe in their organic character. The last thirty-five 
years have witnessed the publication of a perfect library of 
monographs, reviews, criticisms, and pamphlets on the subject, and 
Now we have a review of the whole from the pen of the man 
who gave the fossil its name, and proclaimed it to the world as 
‘The Dawn of Life.’ 
The author has shown considerable skill in the weaving of his 
work. It does not at first appear that the sole aim of the writer 
is to bring Eozoon into bold relief. Beginning with life in the 
Cambrian, we are gradually carried backwards till we reach a 
Condition which is of necessity azoic ot destitute of life. We 
then turn round and gaze on the earth as it is being fitted for the 
teception of life, and speculate as to what life-form would be able 
“under such conditions to find subsistence. We had found Eozoon 
n our journey from the Cambrian to the Archean, and in re- 
tracing our steps are led to conclude that a creature possessed of 
