SEQUEL TO SYSTEMATIC GEOLOGY. 538 



arose between M. Elie de Beaumont and M. Voltz,' the former con- 

 sidering the Ores de Vosges as the equivalent of the Rothe todte 

 liegende, which occurs beneath the Zechstein, while M. Voltz held 

 that it was the lower portion of the Red or Variegated Sandstone 

 which rests on the Zechsteiu. 



In the same manner, from the first promulgation of the Wernerian 

 system, attempts were made to identify the English with the German 

 members of the geological alphabet ; but it was long before this 

 alphabet was rightly read. Thus the English geologists who first tried 

 to apply the Wernerian series to this country, conceived the Old and 

 Xew Red Sandstone of England to be the same with the Old and 

 New Red Sandstone of Werner ; whereas Werner's Old Red, the 

 Rothe todte liegende, is above the coal, while the English Old Red is 

 below it. This mistake led to a further erroneous identification of 

 our Mountain Limestone with Werner's First Flotz Limestone ; and 

 caused an almost inextricable confusion, which, even at a recent 

 period, has perplexed the views of German geologists respecting this 

 country. Again, the Lias of England was, at first, supposed to be the 

 equivalent of the Muschelkalk of Germany. But the error of this 

 identification was brought into view by examinations and discussions 

 in which MM. (Eyenhausen and Dechen took the lead ; and at a later 

 period, Professor Sedgwick, by a laborious examination of the strata 

 of England, was enabled to show the true relation of this part of 

 the geology of the two countries. According to him, the New Red 

 Sandstone of England, considered as one great complex formation, 

 may be divided into seven members, composed of sandstones, lime- 

 stones, and marls ; five of which represent respectively the Rothe todte 

 liegende ; the Kupfer schiefer ; the Zechstein, (with the Rauchwacke, 

 Ascke, and Stinkstein of the Thuringenwald ;) the Bunter sandstein ; 

 and the Keuper : while the Muschelkalk, which lies between the two 

 last members of the German list, has not yet been discovered in our 

 geological series. " Such a coincidence," he observes," " in the sub- 

 divisions of two distant mechanical deposits, even upon the supposi- 

 tion of their being strictly contemporaneous, is truly astonishing. It 

 has not been assumed hypothetically, but is the fair result of the facts 

 which are recorded in this paper." 



As an example in which the study of geological equivalents becomes 

 still more difficult, we may notice the attempts to refer the strata of 



* De la Beche, Manual, 381. g Gcol. Trans. Second Series, iii. 121. 



