STRATIGRAPHICAL GEOLOGY. 427 



Lower Oolite System, with (a) Cornbrash, (l>) Forest 

 Marble, (c) Stonesfield Slate, (d) Great Oolite, (e) 

 Lower Oolite, (/) Marl Stone. 

 Lias. 



Between the Oolite and the Carboniferous formation, Cony- 

 beare and Phillips recognised the formation of the Red Marl 

 and New Red Sandstone, and that of the Magnesian Lime- 

 stone. No fossils had been found in the Red Marl and 

 Sandstone formation, but Conybeare and Phillips correctly 

 compared the group with the Bunter Sandstone on the Con- 

 tinent. The Magnesian Limestone of Sunderland, Durham, 

 and Northumberland was identified by means of its char- 

 acteristic fossils as an equivalent of the " Zechstein " and 

 Copper Slate Series on the Continent (cf. p. 36). Conybeare 

 also recognised in the Conglomerates of Devonshire a forma- 

 tion corresponding to the " Red Underlyer" of the Continental 

 deposits. Finally, the Carboniferous formation was very care- 

 fully described, and was sub-divided into four groups Coal 

 Measures, Millstone Grit and Shales, Carboniferous Limestone, 

 and Old Red Sandstone. 



This classic work of Conybeare and Phillips demonstrated 

 in convincing manner that only with the assistance of fossils 

 could a secure foundation be obtained for a comparative con- 

 sideration of the sedimentary rocks, and although their paral- 

 lelism of the English deposits with those of the Continent is 

 often erroneous, the method which they adopted signified the 

 scientific recognition and marked success of William Smith's 

 reform. 



In Germany, after the collapse of Werner's system, geology 

 seemed for a time to make no progress. It was only by slow 

 degrees that the palseontological method could ingratiate itself 

 with geologists. Keferstein's Tables of Comparative Geognosy 

 (Halle, 1825) presents a curious combination of Wernerian 

 ideas, Humboldt's teaching, and the influence of the new 

 British methods. " Neptunian Formations," six in all, and 

 "Volcanic Formations," also to the number of six, are arranged 

 in two corresponding columns. The Granite and Syenite are 

 placed lowest in the Volcanic formations as the oldest 

 Volcanic rocks contemporaneous with the gneiss, schist, 

 greywackes, and slates that were comprised in the oldest 

 sedimentary "Formation Suite" by Werner. The "Porphyry" 

 Volcanic formation is regarded as the contemporary of the 



