270 EDITORIAL 



sufficient time has been allowed for a deliberate consideration 

 on these broader lines, and a consensus of opinion has been 

 matured as a result, general rules may perhaps be reached. 

 Meantime a measure of freedom may be allowed to individual 

 judgment. T. C. C. 



The writer has read the proof of the article "On the use of 

 the term Bedford limestone," by Mr. C. E. Siebenthal, which 

 appears in this number of the Journal of Geology. Mr. Siebenthal's 

 argument in reference to "the prior claims of Indiana to Bedford 

 as a formation name" rests entirely upon the occurrence of the 

 term "Bedford rock" in Owen's report on Lawrence county, 

 published in 1862, which we have shown was not used in the 

 sense of a formation name and was not described. The sentence 

 in which "Bedford rock" occurs is as follows: "The Bedford 

 rock has long been celebrated for its excellent qualities as a 

 building stone, and is extensively shipped ; additional localities 

 are being opened, and only require the liberality of railroad 

 directors to furnish switches and other facilities for still more 

 extended sales." 1 The name was used in the same sense as the 

 names of hundreds of other towns have been applied to the 

 rock quarried in their vicinity but without any intention to have 

 them serve as the names of geologic units. If they were recog- 

 nized as formation names the number of synonyms for the con- 

 sideration of the stratigraphical geologist would be enormously 

 increased. 



Bedford shale was published as the name of a geological 

 division by Dr. Newberry in 1870 2 and fully described by him 

 in 1873. 3 Following the single occurrence of "Bedford rock" 

 in Owen's report the next citation of "Bedford stone" by Mr. 

 Siebenthal is from the Indiana report for 1873, published in 

 1874, 4 in which Professor John Collett described the "Geology 



1 Rept. Geol. Reconnoissance Indiana, 1862, p. 137. 



2 Rept. Geol. Surv. Ohio, Pt. I, Rept. Progress in, 1869, p. 21. 



3 Rept. Geol. Surv. Ohio, Vol. 1, Pt. I, pp. 188, 189. 



4 Fifth Ann. Rept. Geol. Surv. Indiana made during the year 1873-4, p. 276. 



