{"title":"The saga of the false fossil foram Eozoon","authors":"John R. Dolan","doi":"10.1016/j.ejop.2022.125955","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><em>Eozoon canadense</em><span>, 'the dawn animal of Canada', a large foraminifera, was announced in 1864 as the oldest fossil organism known. Camps soon formed into disbelievers of its fossil nature, agnostics, and “Eozoonists”. </span><em>Eozoon</em> would number among its proponents major figures of the time. The saga of <em>Eozoon</em>, or more precisely the dispute as to its actual nature, spawned hundreds of publications. Here the story is told with a new focus, one on the stature and roles of the major personalities involved, and the evidence they presented. <em>Eozoon</em> is considered to have been 'de-bunked' in the late 19th century. However, it will be shown that it was never indisputably proven to be inorganic. Rather <em>Eozoon</em> simply faded away after its most ardent defenders died. As late as 1947, it was shown as the primordial organism in a biology textbook. The saga of <em>Eozoon</em> remains as a valuable cautionary tale. It is an example of an artifact accepted as fact because it filled a troubling void in knowledge, i.e., at that time, the first traces of life before Cambrian, and it endured because it was promoted by only a few, but powerful, figures in the scientific establishment of the era.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":12042,"journal":{"name":"European journal of protistology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"European journal of protistology","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S093247392200092X","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"MICROBIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Eozoon canadense, 'the dawn animal of Canada', a large foraminifera, was announced in 1864 as the oldest fossil organism known. Camps soon formed into disbelievers of its fossil nature, agnostics, and “Eozoonists”. Eozoon would number among its proponents major figures of the time. The saga of Eozoon, or more precisely the dispute as to its actual nature, spawned hundreds of publications. Here the story is told with a new focus, one on the stature and roles of the major personalities involved, and the evidence they presented. Eozoon is considered to have been 'de-bunked' in the late 19th century. However, it will be shown that it was never indisputably proven to be inorganic. Rather Eozoon simply faded away after its most ardent defenders died. As late as 1947, it was shown as the primordial organism in a biology textbook. The saga of Eozoon remains as a valuable cautionary tale. It is an example of an artifact accepted as fact because it filled a troubling void in knowledge, i.e., at that time, the first traces of life before Cambrian, and it endured because it was promoted by only a few, but powerful, figures in the scientific establishment of the era.
期刊介绍:
Articles deal with protists, unicellular organisms encountered free-living in various habitats or as parasites or used in basic research or applications. The European Journal of Protistology covers topics such as the structure and systematics of protists, their development, ecology, molecular biology and physiology. Beside publishing original articles the journal offers a forum for announcing scientific meetings. Reviews of recently published books are included as well. With its diversity of topics, the European Journal of Protistology is an essential source of information for every active protistologist and for biologists of various fields.