A RAY OF LIFE. 69 



of its structure can be deciphered in thin, polished sections 

 of Laurentian limestones and serpentines, when carefully 

 examined under the microscope. These beings have been 

 entombed in Canadian soil, and we have again to thank 

 the energy and ability of the Canadian geologists for this 

 modern revelation. The microscopic examinations have 

 been chiefly made by Dr. Dawson, of Montreal, and have 

 been fully corroborated by Dr. Carpenter, of London, En- 

 gland. 



As might be expected, this being belongs in the very 

 lowest rank of God's creatures. It is classed with the Fo- 

 raminifera, in the group of Protozoa. It was related to the 

 nummulite, whose skeletons have contributed so largely 

 to the material of the Pyramids — monuments which per- 

 petuate the memory equally of nummulites and Egyptian 

 monarchs. It was related, also, to the little disc-like forms 

 called Orbitoides, so abundant in the white limestone of 

 the southern portion of the " Gulf States." Indeed, the kin- 

 dred of this primeval forerunner of animal forms have been 

 permitted to maintain existence in all seas, and in all ages, 

 down to the present day. The type came upon the earth 

 when nothing could dispute its pre-eminence. It has 

 claimed a place among the ranks of higher animals in the 

 ascending series, and does not shrink even from the face 

 of man. Nay, the type maintains a foothold in the stag- 

 nant pools that gather upon the surface of the land, where 

 man asserts peculiar supremacy. It demands our rever- 

 ence for its antiquity. Let us pay it our respects. 



Gazing through the microscope into a drop of water 

 from some standing pool, our attention would scarcely be 

 arrested by the sight of a little shapeless lump, which is as 

 soft, and jelly-like, and inanimate, to all appearance, as any 

 thing can be. But this is our Protozoan. It may be the 

 species upon which science has imposed the name Amoeba 



