In doing so, I shall merely 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 Upper Laurentian of Canada, a rock formation whose distribution,
age, and structure have been carefully worked out in several extensive
districts 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, all more or less chemically allied to
serpentine.
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.
7. Similar organic structures have been found in the Laurentian
limestones of Massachusetts, New York, Brazil,[45] and also in those
of various parts of Europe, and Dr. Gümbel has found an additional
species in rocks succeeding the Laurentian.
[Footnote 45: Fragmental; specimens from J. A. Derby, Esq.]
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