536 



Dr. Sterry Hunt, however, has endeavoured to make out for this 

 phenomenon a genetic distinction, depending on its occurrence in veins ^ 

 or in beds : in the former, the minerals, according to his view, lost their 

 angles by a dissolving agent ; in the latter, their irregular form is 

 original, being the impression of the inner wall of the " cavities" or 

 " sarcode chambers of Eozoon." There may be a " marked contrast" be- 

 tween the superficial aspect of the -minerals, and that of the same 

 species disseminated in beds ; but the " contrast" seems rather to be due 

 to the different conditions under which their respective calcareous 

 gangues, as they are constituted at present, were produced. The crystal- 

 line character of the vein-gangue, it may be admitted, was a direct de- 

 positional result ; while that of the bed-gangue, as will be conceded by 

 most geologists, has been developed by metamorphic action : other and 

 consecutive agencies would not, on this view, be inoperative. So far 

 as we are enabled to judge from passages in the " Geology of Canada" 

 for " 1863" and " 1866," we are strongly inclined to the belief that 

 the grains or granules of serpentine, loganite, coccolite, apatite, quartz, 

 &c.j occurring in veins, do not possess sufficiently distinctive characters 

 to warrant their differentiation, as regards origin, from similar forms of 

 the same minerals found in beds ; and if it should prove correct that the 

 "rounded crystals" of the one, and the " chamber casts" of the other, 

 are identical, the circumstance will certainly be fatal to " Eozoon."* 



That "heated watery solutions" have "permeated" both beds and 

 veins, and that these solutions have transferred various mineral con- 

 stituents from the former to the latter, is quite our opinion, as it is 

 Sterry Hunt's. f But does not such a process involve a powerful 

 argument against the doctrine of the organic origin of " Eozoon ?" — for 

 what more likely source is there for the precited vein-minerals than 

 the bed-minerals of the same species that present the so-called " semi- 

 fused aspect?" 



4. Chemical Considerations. 



In one of his passages, referring to ourselves, Dr. Carpenter makes 

 a statement that requires some notice in the present place. "While 

 asserting that by no conceivable process could the animal substance 

 originally occupying the tubuli of the nummuline layer have been 

 replaced by siliceous minerals, they have entirely ignored the fact, 

 stated by me, that this very replacement has taken place in recent 

 specimens in my possession. "J It is difficult for us to understand how 



* We feel much regret at having no specimens of the minerals in the granular state, 

 mentioned in the text, from the calcareous veins intersecting the Laurentian rocks of 

 Canada : it would, therefore, be conferring a marked favour on us, if any one would send 

 to our address, Queen's College, Galway, a collection of them, as well as the same kinds 

 from the associated beds of crystalline limestone. 



f " Geological Survey of Canada," 1866, p. 193. 



1 " Proceedings of the Royal Society," vol. xv., p. 507. 



