DEVELOPMENT OF CLASSIFICATION 1099 



strata. The latter, including formations up to the top of the chalk, 

 were called by Werner the I'lotrjgebirgc formation, on account of 

 their horizontality, and because they were the stratified rocks par ex- 

 cellence. The term Flotz signifies "a level floor," and had been 

 generally used since the time of Agricola for stratified rocks. With 

 the Flotz were included the trap rocks of the Secondary strata, as 

 subordinate members, these being held by Werner and his followers 

 to be the result of aqueous precipitation. All deposits above the 

 chalk were referred by Werner to alluvial deposits under the desig- 

 nation Augesclrccemintgebirge. Werner's followers later on 

 distinguished a series of strata between the chalk and the alluvium, 

 and applied to this the term Neiver Flotz (Neues Flotzgchirge). 

 These are the rocks subsequently named "Tertiary" by Cuvier and 

 Brongniart. In the Wernerian terminology, the characters of the 

 strata themselves rather than their time relations were considered, 

 and Fiichsel's term "formation" was applied by Werner and his 

 followers to groups of strata of similar lithic composition. Thus 

 he spoke of limestone formation, sandstone formation, slate forma- 

 tion, etc. The term "transition" strata soon began to take on chron- 

 ologic meaning, and it was widely applied to rocks older than those 

 designated as Secondary. It was still retained even after it was 

 shown that these strata are not always transitional in mineral char- 

 acter and that strata belonging to the Secondary or even later series 

 had sometimes the mineralogical character of the original Transition 

 rocks. 



At the time of Lyell, the strata of the earth's crust were gen- 

 erally divided into Primary, Transition, Secondary, Tertiary and 

 post-Tertiary. It had become recognized that crystalline and 

 metamorphic rocks were not all of one age, but that some were even 

 newer than the Secondary formation. As a chronologic term, Pri- 

 mary had come to be applied by some to the fossiliferous rocks older 

 than the Secondary, while it had become a matter of some question 

 whether any of the crystalline rocks really antedated the oldest 

 fossiliferous deposits. Lyell, to avoid confusion, used the term 

 Primary Fossiliferous formation "because the word primary has 

 hitherto been most generally connected with the idea of a nonfos- 

 siliferous rock." About' this time the terms "Palccozoic," * ''Mcso- 

 aoic," t and "Cccnoaoic" f were introduced to replace the terms 

 Primary Fossiliferous (the former Transition), Secondary and 



* Proposed by Sedgwick, 1838. From iraXat6s, palaios, ancient, and j'ujij, 

 zoe, life. 



t Proposed by Philips, 1841, from fiicros^ mesos, middle; Kaivos, new, recent. 

 The latter was also written Kainozoic. 



