234 The Founders of Geology LECT. 



common use. Smith had no scholarship ; he did not 

 invent euphonious terms from Greek or Latin roots ; he 

 was content to take the rustic or provincial names he 

 found in common use over the districts which he traversed. 

 Hence were now introduced into geological literature such 

 words as London Clay, Kentish Eag, Purbeck Stone, 

 Carstone, Cornbrash, Chinch Clay, Lias, Forest Marble. 



By ingeniously colouring the bottom of each formation 

 a fuller tint than the rest, Smith brought the general 

 succession of strata conspicuously before the eye. Further, 

 by the aid of vertical tables of the formations and a hori- 

 zontal section from Wales to the vale of the Thames, he 

 was able to give the details of the succession which, for 

 some twenty-four years, he had been engaged in unravel- 

 ling in every part of the kingdom. 



Of especial value and originality was his clear sub- 

 division of what is now known as the Jurassic system. 

 He did for that section of the geological record what 

 Cuvier and Brongniart had done for the Tertiary series of 

 Paris. After the first copies of the map had been issued, 

 he was able still further to subdivide and improve his 

 classification of these strata, introducing among the new 

 bands, Crag, Portland Eock, Coral Eag, and Kellaways 

 Stone. 1 



In the memoir accompanying the map, the tabular 

 arrangement of the strata drawn up in 1*799 was inserted, 

 with its column giving the names, so far as he knew them, 

 of the more characteristic fossils of each formation. 



To the laborious researches of William Smith we are 

 thus indebted for the first attempt to distinguish the 



1 Phillips, Memoirs, p. 146. 



