BARRIS — A DEFENSE OF OUR LOCAL GEOLOGY. I 5 



A DEFENSE OF OUR LOCAL GEOLOGY. 



BY W. H. BARRIS. 



[Being a criticism of a pamphlet on the "Geology of Scott County, Iowa, and Rock 

 Island County, Illinois," by A. S. Tiffany. Originally read as an address before 

 the Academy, it is published in such form, rather than as a more rigidly strict 

 scientific paper.] 



Read before the Academy, February jbtli, iSSb. 



It was an unfortunate venture when the author of this pamphlet 

 proclaimed in the "Naturalist's Directory" that his forte consisted in 

 "the correct naming of fossils." His friends had a right to expect that 

 in his first paper on the subject, a claim so conspicuously set forth 

 would be fully substantiated. They certainly were not prepared to 

 recognize within a few pages no less than one hundred and eighty blun- 

 ders in the correct naming of fossils.* The printers of the pamphlet, 

 realizing that their reputation for accuracy might be compromised by 

 the occurrence of such blunders, remonstrated; but they were over- 

 ruled, and given to understand it was just as it should be. 



It certainly was unfavorable for the kind reception of the pamphlet 

 that blunders should be allowed to accumulate in such numbers. One, 

 two, or more, might be overlooked; but the presence of so many 

 errors gives rise, most naturally, to the suspicion that the same want 

 of care, thought, and judgment that led to such blunders, even in the 

 naming of fossils, might equally fail to grasp the nice distinctions on 

 which genus and species are founded; in other words, blunders in the 

 correct naming of fossils might pave the way for blunders in their iden- 

 tification. The suspicion is confirmed by the result. 



We are confronted with the statement that from the Corniferous 

 limestone developed in this locality have been gathered over two hun- 

 dred and forty-six species of fossils. We infer the utter improbability 

 that this number ol species are found in this locality, from the follow- 

 ing considerations: 



First. The character of the rock is against it. Professor Hall, of 

 our first State Geological Survey, writing of the Corniferous limestone 

 of our vicinity, says: "The large amount of shaly matter mingling with 

 the material of the rock, or occurring as shaly seams between the beds, 

 would appear to render the condition of the ancient ocean unfit for the 



*The errors noted are distributed as follows, viz.: In the first list, page 7, 4+; in the second 

 list, page 17, S7; in the third list, page 24, 45; in the fourth list, page 2S, iS; in the fifth list, page 

 29, 3; in the text, iS; making a total of 185. 



