ANNALS 
OF 
PHILOSOPHY. 
AUGUST, 1822. 
ARTICLE I. 
Geological Remarks. By Thomas Weaver, Esq. MRIA. MRDS. 
MWS. MGS. 
In the Comparative View which I took of floetz formations in 
the British Isles and on the Continent (Annals of Philosophy for 
Oct. Nov. and Dec. 1821), it was my professed object to main- 
tain, that a general order of succession prevails in the structure 
of the Earth, from the oldest to the newest formations, subject, 
however, to variation in detail in different countries, and even in 
the same tract of country, as arising, from a fluctuation of cha- 
racter in particular beds; from the various modes in which corre- 
lative formations are associated (namely, as being distinct. or 
interstratified with each other) ; and, lastly, trom the occasional 
absence of certain members of a series. In illustration of this 
doctrine, I produced the carboniferous series as an example, 
proceeding from the most simple to the most complex arrange- 
ments, to be found in the British Isles, and adverting to the local 
deficiency of particular members of the series. Passing then to 
the Continent, with the same object before me, I noticed the 
analogy which subsists between the carboniferous series of 
England and the Netherlands, and between that of Scotland and 
some parts of Germany. With this principle, therefore, con- 
stantly in view, my surprise was great to find that a writer of 
distinguished talents had so far misunderstood my observations, 
as to have conceived that [ suppose an inversion of the order in 
the instance of the carboniferous series of Germany, and thus 
impugned the very doctrine I had undertaken to sustain ; while 
in truth I have not made any such supposition.* 
* See p. 310—319, of “* Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales, by the 
New Series, vou. tv. G 
