﻿'76 Canadian Record of Science. 



Eozoon, and are equally massive and abundant, and may 

 be regarded as analogous to it in magnitude, habitat, mode 

 of growth, and function in nature. 



These later discoveries are gradually widening the hori- 

 zon of paheontologists in the direction of the dawn of 

 life, and the studies of those who trace backward the 

 history of the Invertebrates of the Palaeozoic seas are 

 demanding more and more the discovery of earlier forms 

 than those yet know^n to complete the chain of life.-^ The 

 field is a difficult one to cultivate, and demands both 

 labour and patience, but it holds forth the prospect of 

 great discoveries, and it has already become the duty and 

 interest of palaeontologists to extend their inquiries as far 

 back as the Laurentian in the search for Eozoic life. 



In this respect the study and discussion of Eozoon have 

 not been without use, in directing attention to the possi- 

 bility of finding organic remains in the older crystalline 

 rocks, to the danger of confounding them in their peculiar 

 condition with merely mineral structures, to the state of 

 preservation of organic remains in the older formations, 

 and to the origin and significance of the large deposits of 

 limestone, dolomite, hydrous silicates, iron ore, graphite, 

 and ^apatite, laid up in certain horizons of the Eozoic 

 rocks. Questions of this kind have been greatly advanced 

 toward their satisfactory solution since the discovery of 

 Eozoon in 1858, and in some degree at least in conse- 

 quence of the interest excited by that discovery. It is 

 hoped that the present notes may tend in the same direc- 

 tion, and that, whether or not they succeed in removing 

 any existing scepticism in respect to Eozoon, they may 

 help to stimulate and guide tlie search for those begin- 

 nings of life, which there are now the best reasons for 

 l)elieving are to l)e found far below the base of the 

 Cam])rian. 



1 See Dr. Woodward's Address as President of the Geological Society, 1S95. 



