Relics of Primeval Life: Beginning of Life in the Dawn of Geological Time

Part 1

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RELICS OF PRIMEVAL LIFE

+------------------------------------------------------+ | WORKS BY | | | | Sir J. William Dawson, | | | | LL.D., F.R.S., etc. | | | | =Eden Lost and Won.= Studies of the Early History | | and Final Destiny of Man, as taught in Nature and | | Revelation. 12mo, cloth $1.25 | | | | The work is in two parts. Part I. considers the | | physical and historical probabilities respecting the | | authorship and authority of the Mosaic books. Part | | II. treats of man and nature, fallen and restored. | | | | =The Historical Deluge.= Its relation to Scientific | | Discovery and to Present Questions. 12mo, boards .25 | | | | "It is a very satisfactory statement. Will be very | | useful."--The New York Observer. | | | | =The Meeting=Place of Geology and History.= | | Illustrated. Lowell Lectures, 1894, 12mo, cloth 1.25 | | | | "We commend these lectures heartily to all who | | are anxious to have a clear understanding of this | | important discussion."--The Living Church. | | | | =Modern Ideas of Evolution as related to Revelation | | and Science.= Sixth Edition, Revised and Enlarged. | | 12mo, cloth 1.50 | | | | "Dr. Dawson is himself a man of eminent judicial | | temper, a widely read scholar, and a close, profound | | thinker, which makes the blow he deals the Evolution | | hypothesis all the heavier. We commend it to our | | readers as one of the most thorough and searching | | books on the subject yet published."--The Christian | | at Work. | | | | =The Chain of Life in Geological Time.= A sketch of | | the Origin and Succession of Animals and Plants. | | Illustrated. Third and Revised Edition. 12mo, | | cloth 2.00 | | | | =Egypt and Syria.= Their Physical Features in | | Relation to Bible History. Second Edition, Revised | | and Enlarged. With many Illustrations. "By-Paths of | | Bible Knowledge." Vol. VI. 12mo, cloth. 1.20 | | | | ---------------- | | | | =Fleming H. Revell Company= | | | | New York: 112 Fifth Ave. | | Chicago: 63 Washington St, | | Toronto: 140 & 142 Yonge St.| +------------------------------------------------------+

Two divisions or branches of a large specimen collected by Mr. E. T. Chambers in the Ordovician of Lake St. John. (See Appendix D.)

RELICS OF PRIMEVAL LIFE

BEGINNING OF LIFE IN THE DAWN OF GEOLOGICAL TIME

SIR J. WILLIAM DAWSON LL.D., F.R.S., Etc.

WITH SIXTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY

1897

The substance of a Course of Lectures on Pre-Cambrian Fossils delivered in the Lowell Institute, Boston, in November, 1895.

AUGUSTUS LOWELL Esq

_Vice-President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Trustee of the Lowell Institute_

AS THE WISE AND LIBERAL ADMINISTRATOR OF A NOBLE

ENDOWMENT FOR THE ADVANCEMENT AND DIFFUSION

OF KNOWLEDGE

THIS WORK IS DEDICATED

WITH MUCH RESPECT AND ESTEEM

BY THE AUTHOR

PREFACE

IT is now more than thirty-five years since the announcement was made of the discovery of remains supposed to indicate the existence of animal life in the oldest rocks known to geologists. It was hailed with enthusiasm by some as "opening a new era in geological science"; but was regarded with scepticism by others, in consequence of the condition and mineral character of the supposed fossil, and because of the great interval in time between the oldest animal remains previously known and these new claimants for recognition. Since that time, many new facts have been learned, and the question has been under almost continuous discussion and debate, with various fortunes, in different quarters.

The author was associated with the original discovery and description of these supposed earliest traces of life; and has since, in the intervals of other work, devoted much time to further exploration and research, the results of which have been published from time to time in the form of scientific papers. He has also given attention to the later discoveries which have tended to fill up the gap between the Laurentian fossil and its oldest known successors.

In 1875 he endeavoured to sum up in a popular form what was then known, in a little volume named "The Dawn of Life," which has long been out of print; and in 1893 the matter was referred to in a chapter of his work "Salient Points in the Science of the Earth." In 1895 he was invited to present the subject to a large and intelligent audience in a course of lectures delivered in the Lowell Institute, Boston; and the success which attended these lectures has induced him to reproduce them in the present work, in the hope that inquiries into the Dawn of Life may prove as fascinating to general readers as to those who prosecute them as a matter of serious work, and that their presentation in this form may stimulate further research in a field which is destined in the coming years to add new and important domains to the knowledge of life in the early history of the earth.

Hypotheses respecting the introduction and development of life are sufficiently plentiful; but the most scientific method of dealing with such questions is that of searching carefully for the earliest remains of living beings which have been preserved to us in the rocky storehouses of the earth.

There are many earnest labourers in this difficult field, and it will be the object of the writer in the following pages to do justice to their work as far as known to him, as well as to state his own results.

J. W. D.

Part 2

CONTENTS

PAGE

The Chain of Life Traced Backward in Geological Time 3

Life in the Early Cambrian 17

III

Pre-Cambrian Life 47

Foundations of the Continents, and their General Testimony as to Life 79

Probabilities as to Laurentian Life, and Conditions of its Preservation 107

The History of a Discovery 125

VII

The Dawn of Life 147

VIII

Contemporaries of Eozoon 193

Difficulties and Objections 221

The Origin of Life 245

Some General Conclusions 281

APPENDIX

A. Geological Relations of Eozoon, etc. 295

B. Organic Remains and Hydrous Silicates 298

C. Affinities of Eozoon, etc. 303

D. Cryptozoon 310

E. Receptaculites and Archæocyathus 315

F. Pre-Geological Evolution 320

G. Controversies respecting Eozoon 324

H. Notes to Appendix, December, 1896 329

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIG. PAGE

Cryptozoon Boreale Frontispiece Map xvi 1. Olenellus 20 2. Triarthrus 23 3. Hymenocaris 27 4. Ctenichnites 32 5, 6. Archæocyathus 35 7, 8. Cryptozoon 37, 39 9. Fossils in Lower Cambrian Boulder 41 10. Section Hanford Brook 51 11. Worm Tracks 53 12. Pre-Cambrian Fossils 54 13. Arenicolites and Aspidella 54 14. Cryptozoon 56 15. Worm Burrows 67 16. Casts of Foraminifera 68 17. Tudor Eozoon 69 18. Laurentian America 85 19. Map of Grenville Limestones 88 19A. Attitude of Limestone, Côte St. Pierre 91 20, 21. Disturbed Beds 103 22. Section of Limestone 113 23. Silicification of Coral 113 24. Cast of Polystomella in Glauconite 115 24A. Crinoid and Shell in Glauconite 116 25. Nature-print of Eozoon 121 26, 27. Eozoon from Calumet 130 28, 29. Canals of Eozoon 133 30, 31. Canals and Tubuli 135 32. General Form of Eozoon 149 33, 34. Eozoon with Funnels 152, 153 35. Small Specimen and Structure 155 36. Decalcified Eozoon 157 37. Finest Tubuli filled with Dolomite 158 38. Arrangement of Canals 159 39-41. Finest Tubuli 160-2 42. Canals after Möbius 163 43. Stromatocerium 172 44. Stromatopora 173 45. Cœnostroma 174 46. Recent Protozoa 176 47. Fragmental Eozoon 183 48, 49. Nummulites and Calcarina 186 50, 51. Archæospherinæ 190, 200 52. Acervuline Eozoon 205 53, 54. Archæospherinæ 205, 208 55. Ditto, Finland 212 56. Eozoon Bavaricum 213 57. Archæozoon 215 58. Restoration of Eozoon 230 59. Eozoon in Different States 237 60. Nature-print of Large Specimen To face 296

Part 3

Grenville Series on the Ottawa River (17 miles to an inch).

From Logan's Original Map of 1865.]

THE CHAIN OF LIFE TRACED BACKWARD IN GEOLOGICAL TIME

GEOLOGICAL CHRONOLOGY OF LIFE.

After Prof. C. A. White.

=Column Key=--Using First Letter ---------------------------------------- Invertebrates. Vertebrates. Plants. -------------- ------------- --------- Protozoa Ganoid Fishes Algæ Corals, etc. Telios Fishes Land Cryptogs Echinoids Batrachians Phænogams Worms Reptiles Mollusks Dinosaurs Arthropods Birds Insects Marsupials Land Snails Placentals Humans

Geological Invertebrates. Vertebrates. Plants. Systems or Periods. P C E W M A I L G T B R D B M P H A L P +------------------------------------------+ Kainozoic. | ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖| { Cretaceous ...| ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖| { |-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖--‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖------‖-‖--| { Jurassic ...| ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ | { |-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖--‖---‖-‖-‖---‖------‖-‖--| { Triassic ...| ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ | |-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖--‖---‖-‖------------‖-‖--| Palæozoic. | ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ | { Permian ...| ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ | { |-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖--‖---‖--------------‖-‖--| { Carboniferous ...| ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ | { |-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖--‖------------------‖-‖--| { Devonian ...| ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ | { |-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖----‖------------------‖-‖--| { Silurian ...| ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ | { |-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-------------------------‖-‖--| { Ordovician ...| ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ | { |-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-------------------------‖----| { Cambrian ...| ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ | { |-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-‖-------------------------‖----| { Etcheminian ...| ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ | |-‖-‖-‖-‖-----------------------------‖----| Eozoic. | ‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ | { Huronian ...| ‖ · | { |-‖----------------------------------------| { Laurentian. | ‖ | { Grenvillian ...| ‖ | { |------------------------------------------| { Archæan ...| | | | +------------------------------------------+

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