244 The Founders of Geology LECT. 



The growth of stratigraphical nomenclature is thus 

 eminently characteristic of the early rise and progress of 

 the study of stratigraphy in Europe. Precisians decry 

 this inartificial and haphazard language, and would like 

 to introduce a brand new harmonious and systematic 

 terminology. But the present arrangement has its his- 

 torical interest and value, and so long as it is convenient 

 and intelligible, I do not see that any advantage to science 

 would accrue from its abolition. The method of naming 

 formations or groups of strata after districts where they are 

 typically developed has long been in use and has many 

 advantages, but it has not supplanted all the original 

 names, and I for my part hope that it never will. 



With regard to what are now known as the Tertiary 

 and Secondary formations, the Wernerian " Floetz," under 

 which they were all comprised, soon sank into disuse. 1 

 But there was a long pause before the strata of older date 

 were subjected to the same diligent study. For this delay 

 various good reasons may be assigned. We have seen 

 that William Smith's researches went down into the Coal- 

 measures, but he had only a general and somewhat vague 

 idea of the sequence of the rocks beneath that formation. 

 These rocks were not wholly unfossiliferous, but in general, 

 throughout Western Europe, they had been so disturbed 

 and dislocated that they no longer presented the proofs of 



1 One of the latest adaptations of the word was that of Keferstein in his 

 Tabellen uber die vergleichende Geologic, (1825). He frankly threw over 

 Wernerianism, but stuck to the pre-Wernerian Floetz, which he arranged 

 in five subdivisions. (1) Youngest Floetz, alluvium, etc. ; (2) Tertiary 

 Floetz, marls, gypsum, etc., of Paris, Brown coal; (3) Younger Floetz, 

 or Chalk rocks, Chalk, Jura Limestone, Greensand ; (4) Middle Floetz, or 

 Muschelkalk Lias, Kenper marl, Bunter sandstone, Zechstein ; (5) Old 

 Floetz, or Mountain Limestone Coal, Mountain Limestone. 



