| I | |
| PAGE | |
| The Chain of Life Traced Backward in Geological Time | 3 |
| II | |
| Life in the Early Cambrian | 17 |
| III | |
| Pre-Cambrian Life | 47 |
| IV | |
| Foundations of the Continents, and their General Testimony as to Life | 79 |
| V | |
| Probabilities as to Laurentian Life, and Conditions of its Preservation | 107 |
| VI | |
| The History of a Discovery | 125 |
| VII | |
| The Dawn of Life | 147 |
| VIII | |
| Contemporaries of Eozoon | 193 |
| IX | |
| Difficulties and Objections | 221 |
| X | |
| The Origin of Life | 245 |
| XI | |
| Some General Conclusions | 281 |
| 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 |