Transcriber Notes Text emphasis denoted as _Italics_. [Illustration: Plate I. From a Photo. by Henderson Vincent Brooke, Day & Son. Lith. CAPE TRINITY ON THE SAGUENAY. A CLIFF OF LAURENTIAN GNEISS. _Frontispiece_] LIFE'S DAWN ON EARTH: BEING THE History of the Oldest Known Fossil Remains, AND THEIR RELATIONS TO GEOLOGICAL TIME AND TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. BY J. W. DAWSON, LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., Etc., PRINCIPAL AND VICE-CHANCELLOR OF M'GILL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL; AUTHOR OF "ARCHAIA," "ACADIAN GEOLOGY," "THE STORY OF THE EARTH AND MAN," ETC. _SECOND THOUSAND._ LONDON: HODDER & STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCLXXV. Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London. To the Memory of SIR WILLIAM EDMOND LOGAN, LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., THIS WORK IS DEDICATED, Not merely as a fitting acknowledgment of his long and successful labours in the geology of those most ancient rocks, first named by him Laurentian, and which have afforded the earliest known traces of the beginning of life, but also as a tribute of sincere personal esteem and regard to the memory of one who, while he attained to the highest eminence as a student of nature, was also distinguished by his patriotism and public spirit, by the simplicity and earnestness of his character, and by the warmth of his friendships. PREFACE. An eminent German geologist has characterized the discovery of fossils in the Laurentian rocks of Canada as "the opening of a new era in geological science." Believing this to be no exaggeration, I have felt it to be a duty incumbent on those who have been the apostles of this new era, to make its significance as widely known as possible to all who take any interest in scientific subjects, as well as to those naturalists and geologists who may not have had their attention turned to this special topic.