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 kingdomDawson, John William, Sir
History
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
Dawson, John William, Sir
Life -- Origin; Paleontology -- Precambrian
[Illustration: Fig. 49. _Portion of a thin Transverse Slice of a Lamina
of Eozoon, magnified, showing its structure, as traced with the camera._
(_a._) Nummuline wall of under side. (_b._) Intermediate skeleton with
canals. (_a´._) Nummuline wall of upper side. The two lower figures
show the lower and upper sides more highly magnified. The specimen is
one in which the canals are unusually well seen.]
It may be well, however, to sum up the evidence as it has been
presented by Sir W. E. Logan, Dr. Carpenter, Dr. Hunt, and the author,
in a short and intelligible form; and I shall do so under a few brief
heads, with some explanatory remarks:--
1. The Lower Laurentian of Canada, a rock formation whose
distribution, age, and structure have been thoroughly worked out by
the Canadian Survey, is found to contain thick and widely distributed
beds of limestone, related to the other beds in the same way in which
limestones occur in the sediments of other geological formations. There
also occur in the same formation, graphite, iron ores, and metallic
sulphides, in such relations as to suggest the idea that the limestones
as well as these other minerals are of organic origin.
2. In the limestones are found laminated bodies of definite form and
structure, composed of calcite alternating with serpentine and other
minerals. The forms of these bodies suggested a resemblance to the
Silurian Stromatoporæ, and the different mineral substances associated
with the calcite in the production of similar forms, showed that these
were not accidental or concretionary.
3. On microscopic examination, it proved that the calcareous laminæ
of these forms were similar in structure to the shells of modern
and fossil Foraminifera, more especially those of the Rotaline and
Nummuline types, and that the finer structures, though usually filled
with serpentine and other hydrous silicates, were sometimes occupied
with calcite, pyroxene, or dolomite, showing that they must when recent
have been empty canals and tubes.
4. The mode of filling thus suggested for the chambers and tubes of
Eozoon, is precisely that which takes place in modern Foraminifera
filled with glauconite, and in Palæozoic crinoids and corals filled
with other hydrous silicates.
5. The type of growth and structure predicated of Eozoon from the
observed appearances, in its great size, its laminated and acervuline
forms, and in its canal system and tubulation, are not only in
conformity with those of other Foraminifera, but such as might be
expected in a very ancient form of that group.
6. Indications exist of other organic bodies in the limestones
containing Eozoon, and also of the Eozoon being preserved not only in
reefs but in drifted fragmental beds as in the case of modern corals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account