LARDNER VANUXEM. 273 



series; and since the sandstones, limestones, slates, and shales 

 are so similar in different and successive groups, it was impossi- 

 ble to give descriptive names which would discriminate the one 

 from the other. Therefore local names were proposed and 

 adopted as, for example, Potsdam sandstone, Trenton lime- 

 stone, Niagara limestone, and Niagara shale (the two latter, with 

 subordinate beds making the Niagara group), the Medina sand- 

 stone, the Onondaga salt group, the Hamilton, Portage, and 

 Chemung groups, thus giving typical localities of the rock instead 

 of descriptive names. This method or system of nomenclature 

 leaves no possibility of mistake or confusion which might arise 

 from a different appreciation of descriptive terms. The typical 

 locality always remains for study, comparison, and reference, and 

 there need be no difference of opinion or discussion as to what 

 was intended by the use of any one of the terms. The progress 

 of geological science in the country is greatly indebted to this 

 system of nomenclature, and to the absolute working out of 

 the succession of the groups, and the members of the same, to 

 which this system of nomenclature has been applied." 



At the close of the survey he spent some months in Albany 

 (associated with Prof. Hall) in arranging the State geological 

 cabinet, the specimens of which he had assisted in collecting, 

 and out of which has grown the New York State Museum. 

 His name was given by his colleagues to several species of the 

 fossils discovered in the course of the survey, and in 1858 Mr. 

 Elkenah Billings named a genus (discovered in Canada) in his 

 honour. 



Prof. Vanuxem's private collection of minerals and geolog- 

 ical specimens was considered at the time of his death as " the 

 largest, best arranged, and most valuable private collection in 

 this country." The shell and mineral specimens were fine and 

 many of them very beautiful, but it was the geological de- 

 partment, with its numerous specimens of rock and fossil and 

 the perfect arrangement of the whole, giving to the investi- 

 gator, in the best manner possible, the information sought, and 

 all arranged by his own hands and methods, that constituted 

 its chief value. It was constantly visited by eminent scientists 

 both of this country and from abroad. Prof. Agassiz, Sir 

 Charles Lyell, and Dr. Nicolay were drawn to it on more than 

 one occasion. Those who were in the habit of visiting it most 

 frequently, both from interest in it and its possessor, seemed to 



