Origin of Species Variorum

Comparison with 1872

.. E. Forbes , have disputed this conclusion. We should not forget that only a small portion of the world is known with accuracy. Not very long ago M. Barrande added another and lower stage, ... abounding with new and peculiar species, beneath the then known Silurian system; and now, still lower down in the Lower Cambrian formation, Mr. Hicks has found in South Wales beds rich in trilobites, and containing various molluscs and annelids. ↑ The presence also of phosphatic nodules and bituminous matter in some of the lowest azoic rocks, probably indicates life at these periods. There are three great series of strata beneath the Silurian system in Canada, in the lowest of which the Eozoon is found. .. Sir W. Logan states that their "united thickness may possibly far surpass that of all the succeeding rocks, from the base of the palæozoic series to the present time. We are thus carried back to a period so .. remote, that the appearance of the so-called Primordial fauna (of Barrande) may by some be considered .. as a comparatively modern event." The Eozoon belongs to the most lowly organised of all classes of animals, but is highly organised for its class; it existed in countless numbers, and, as Dr. Dawson has remarked, certainly preyed on other minute organic beings, which must have lived in great numbers. ↑ Thus the words, .. which I wrote in 1859, about the existence of living beings long before the Cambrian period, and which are almost the same with those since used by Sir W. Logan, have proved true. Nevertheless, the difficulty of assigning any good reason for the absence ... of

the late E. Forbes , disputed this conclusion. We should not forget that only a small portion of the world is known with accuracy. M. Barrande not long ago added another and lower stage to the Silurian system, abounding with new and peculiar species. Remnants of several forms have been detected in the Longmynd beds, beneath Barrande's so-called primordial zone. ↑ The presence also of phosphatic nodules and bituminous matter in some of the lowest azoic rocks, probably indicates the former existence of life at these periods. But now within the last year the great discovery of the Eozoon in the Laurentian formation of Canada has been made; and after reading Dr. Carpenter's description of this remarkable fossil, it is impossible to feel any doubt regarding its organic nature. There are three great series of strata beneath the Silurian system in Canada, in the lowest of which the Eozoon was found; and Sir W. Logan states that their "united thickness may possibly far surpass that of all the succeeding rocks, from the base of the palæozoic series to the present time. We are thus carried back to a period so far remote, that the appearance of the so-called Primordial fauna (of Barrande) may by some be considered a comparatively modern event." The Eozoon belongs to the most lowly organised of all classes of animals, but for its class is highly organised; it existed in countless numbers, and, as Dr. Dawson has remarked, certainly preyed on other minute organic beings, which must have lived in great numbers. There is also reason to believe that at this enormously remote period plants of some kind existed. Thus the words above given, which I wrote in 1859, and which are almost the same with those used by Sir W. Logan, have come true. Notwithstanding these several facts, the difficulty of assigning any good cause for the absence beneath the Silurian formations of