

Perry." 



200 [April 19, 



They also occur among the Adirondacks of New York. Lime- 

 stones of this character — hand specimens of which can be scarcely, 

 if they can be at all, discriminated from given samples of strat- 

 ified Silurian limestones — are likewise found in Vermont, New 

 Hampshire, and elsewhere, in the form of dikes. In most of these 

 cases close examination clearly shows, and perhaps it will hereafter 

 as clearly evince in them all, that the dike-like masses were formed in 

 a vein-like way by gradual deposition, extending from the enclosing 

 walls toward the centres of what once were cavities. Similar 

 masses of calcareous vein-stone are to be met with in St. Lawrence 

 County, N. Y . , and in some other places, penetrating beds of sand- 

 stone. Indeed, were there time, it would not be difficult to show 

 that rocks of this character may be found in association with forma- 

 tions of greatly varying, if not of almost every, age. 



These, and other similar cases which might be readily cited, are 

 suited to remove the objection that all limestones are stratified rocks, 

 and show that no one can reasonably look for, or expect to find 

 organic remains in any such masses. Having made out the points 

 just advanced years ago, in regard to some of the so-called prim- 

 itive, or saccharoidal limestones, I have been skeptical ever since 

 in respect to the supposed organic nature of the "Eozoon." Ac- 

 cordingly, on the announcement, in August, 1869, of the discovery 

 of this strange form in the limestone of Newbury, I at once dis- 

 credited its assumed organic character, — discredited the assumption 

 that it represents, as its name indicates, the dawn of animal life on 

 the globe, — on the ground, among other reasons, of its occurrence 

 in calcareous masses of a vein-like origin. Of course,- on hearing a 

 few weeks later, of a like discovery in Chelmsford, and seeing a 

 specimen of the rock holding the supposed organic forms, I was pre- 

 pared by my previous experience for a similar conviction in respect 

 to the matter involved in the new announcement. This I im- 

 mediately expressed, in one of the lectures on the foliated rocks, 

 which I was then delivering in course, and I was fortunately able 

 fully to confirm my impression by personal examination, on going to 

 the quarry several months later with Mr. Burbank, who had pre- 

 viously, and has since, devoted himself with commendable assiduity 

 and care to the study of these older formations. 



On visiting the Chelmsford quarries and observing what had been 

 before considered, and at first sight might be readily taken, as evi- 

 dence of stratification in the limestone, I was able, because of ear- 



