New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-10-14
GEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES
NEW LOCALITIES FOR THE EozooH-dEoLooi,.
CAL INTEREST AND PRACTICAL VALUE of
THE EOzOIC Observation-Disclosures shn
PENTINE MARBLE.


SIR: The writer has recently had the oppor-
tunitv Of examining one Of the most beautiful varieties
of American marble that has been wrousn' ~ ''
country; and az 1t possesses not only an econono
but very peculiar scientific interest, from is
ara and relatons some notice of 1t may prove POI
of moro than ordinary value. MOST toufN'' :.
northern part Of this State are aware tnst 10.
10 in course Of construction running nor .,u,n
saratoea Springs across the wilderness 10 -
Th,. Known as tho Adirondack Companys Fairoao' 70
a,ro.dv oornIetsd some 80 or 90 miles from oaia"s
,ono the beautiful valley OF the upper Hudson' un
enenino new and short routes 10 LeA0 w. ~
aobroon Lake and the Norm "oouo'
road will eventually place all tho Wnus " '.
tina Adirondack Mountains within easy rouon "
travellers and aso may very possibly aeY''up =, .hat
mining interests connection with the iron oree
go. 20 ths state Almost the whole OF the distict geo.
iooa,Iv IA composed of crystalline metamorpno
bynersthene gness hornbende, feldspar anu
with much magnetic iron ore, which Is nineu III LII
mense ouantties especially noar Port henry, Oh haAo
Cbamplan 1t may well be that new mines Will Dc ais
covered and old ones that remote and dfncut
be made moro valuable by this railroad opening OF the
wilderness The first important product that has thus
been brought into notice Is not ORE however but
MARBLE It Is called the Adirondack Verd Antique and
ouarried at Thurmay in Warren Co., few miles west OF
the railroad 1t ia finely notified with white and green
spotted and clouded with clearer green. Tho white is
calte or carbonate of lime sometimes varying to gray
and the green is the "precious or anslucent serpen
tine But although its beauty would attract the eye OF
almost any observer its scientific peculiares are the
source Of its greatest interest
One OF tho most remarkable discoveries that has re-
warded the labor Of biologists in recent years Is that OF
the very remote and peculiar fossil which has received
the Of Eozo6n Coincidence. The term Cocoon i DC
rived from two Greek words denotng the dawning OF
fe and refers to the fact that this Is at once the lowest
49, r1taak Nnrra af
any indication in the history Of our globe 1t is found
only in series OF crystalline rocks, that were always
supposed TO be Of igneous origin and wholly deVoid Oh
fossil remains from which last circumstance they were
termed Azoic, or lfeless. Since the publication, how
ever OF tho volumes Of the Geological Survey OF Canada
in which the Of this singular fossil was first
made known, very great change has passed over the
views OF biologists, and these rockA are seen TO
be OF sedmentary origin, altered by tho subsequent
agency OF heat into tho crystalline condition which had
led the earlier investigators to regard them as OF gneous
formation The name Azoio Age has been correspond
ipgy changed to Eozoothe period OF the Dawn OF Lire
This remarkable fossil Is most nearly related to certa
low forms Of life which found In the depths OF the
ocean, far from land and whose minute shells, sinking
TO the bottom In countless numbers, compose great
proportion of the ooze that is brought up by deepsea
soundins. These little creatures belong to the lowest
division OF the animal kingdom, the Protozoans ana are
termed Foramnifera from tho Latin JOrdmen, an aper-
ture in auson to the minute orinoes In ther shens'
through which fine, slender organs are projected rom
within. These Shells which are composed OF
carbonate OF lime, are in general only OF
microscopic size; and In many OF the species
they arc united into little communities or compound
animals In elegant spiral or doube-ranked forms, the
result of successive mutpcatons from one Individual
to many This group has existed In all the geoioScai
ages and would now appear to have bcen the nrst IN
time as It rs the lowest In structure that the Life OF our
n1aE azoH I'm
munies OF little creatures Of this kind, loosely aggre-
gated connected cell to CELL and growing Into tufs
masses, reefs on the rockledges OF prlmeVa
sea. The cells OF the animal have become hlied Win
green serpentne, hydrous slicate OF magnesa whle
the nterspaces occupied by white carbonate OF hme
BY this means tho organic structure "a rendered yi0le
some oven the unaided eye, and readily to the
microscopst. The general appearance Is that OF
finely notified white and green marble; but on looking
closely this Ottng Is to be due to the round cells
OF the organism replaced by the serpentne The aver
age szo of these cells about that OF the very smallest
pins head In these gobules OF serpentne, microscopic
inspection reveals structure of tubes and spcues'
which leaves no doubt of the real nature OF tho sub
stance as true fossil though only the BEST specimens
show this structure readily and WELL In some cases.
where the rock been weathered the lime has been
removed FROM the ntersces and the mass OF connected
cells composed OF the harder and more durable serpen
tine remains as mosslike aggregation. This eject Is
examples may thus be prepared.
Tho discovery and Identification Of this rema rhabe
FOSSIL and the farreachng changes thence resulting In
geological views are due to the able directors OF the
Canadian Survey particularly to Dr. Dawson OF Montreal
and Prof T. sterry Hunt The eminent English physico-
gst Dr. Carpenter has also given great attention to the
study of the EozoGn, and German naturalist Dr. Gdm-
bs has discovered similar FOSSIL which he has named
EdsoSn Baparicu, in rocks Of tho same age In Bavaria
The result these discoveries Is to prove OF
life at period entirely behind what was before supposed
TO be It's earliest limit These with
their associated gneiss rocks are thus shown TO have
been laid down by deposition from water, like all the
later sedmentary beds in the Of to have
been raised into mountain ridges, and heated. altered,
and orystazed out Of all outward likeness to their orig
,nal state Thus the limit Of life, which has long been
regarded as fxed at the bottom OF the Lower Suran
beds Ia now set back into yet earlier and remoter ages
To tire new series thus recognized aud established has
been given the name OF Laurentan from the region OF
the 81 Lawrence River where it was first Investigated
by the Canadian geologists
Specimens OF the Cocoon have been obtained, and
studded several points in Canada and now the an
nouncoment is made before the American Scientific Asso
citation Of the discovery Of the fose apparently In
the crystalline limestone OF Massachusetts, though there
IA still some question here. The first recognition OF 1t
in ths Adirondack marble due to Dr. A. NJ Edwards Of
this city, who detected and announced 1t at the New
York Lyceum Of Natural History, during one OF the
weekly meetings OF that body last Autumn At the Com
pany's auarries 1t occurs in large amounts; while In
Europe Dr. GHmbel describes like fossil from rocks OF
the ssme age Bavaria and Also 1t would SEEM in Fin
land These facts form cumulative argument, showing
that the rocks Of that very eary time, both CONT
nen arc all found to yield traces OF the same low Or
ganie types and 80 rightly termed Eozoio and not
Azoic-belongng to the period when life was dawning
and when wholly absent OF course SO great
change In views that had long been fxed did not and
conld not ind acceptance easily or at once Even now
there are good many geoogsts especially abroad, who
EOzoOn and who