208 



Review of " Outlines of the 



We must advert a moment in this place, to the introduc- 

 tion of the work before us, to exhibit the general classifica- 

 tion of rocks, which the authors have made the basis of their 

 arrangement of the strata of England and Wales. The fol- 

 lowing sketch, taken from page 7th, will give at a glance, a 

 comparative and synoptical view of their plan. 



Character. 



I Proposed Names. 



I Wernerian ^^""^ ^^ °^^^'" 

 I wernerian. Writers. 



1. Formations (chiefly of 

 sand and clay) above 

 the chalk. 



Superior Order. 



NewestFloelz 

 Class. 



Tertiary Clas 



, Comprising a chalk, b 

 sand and clays beneath 

 the chalk, c calcareous 

 free-stones (oolites) 

 and argillaceous beds, 

 d New red sandstone, 

 conglomerate and mag- 

 nesian limestone. 



Supermedial Or- 

 der. 



Floetz Class, 



Secondary 

 Class. 



3. Carboniferous rocks, 

 comprising a Coal 

 Measures, b Carboni- 

 ferous limestone. 

 Old red Sandstone. 



Medial Order. 



Sometimes referred to the pre- 

 ceding", sometimes to the suc- 

 ceeding class by wrilers of 

 these schools; very often the 

 coal measures are refer- 

 red to the former — the sub- 

 jacent limestone and san d- 

 stone to the latter. 



, J c CI . f a Submedial Or- 

 4. i-iooiing blate, &o. ice. , 



fransitioa 

 Class. 



Intermediate 



Class. 



3. Mica Slate, 

 Gneiss. 

 Granite, 



Inferior Order. 



Primiliv'' 



Class. 



Primitive Class 



Such an utter exclusion of all hypothesis, as this arrange- 

 ment exhibits, may startle the man, whose thoughts and 

 feelings have long run in the channels of a particular sys- 

 tem. We cannot, however, but be pleased with its remark- 

 able simplicity; and do not see but it answers every purpose 

 of primitive, transition, and secondary; without conveying, to 

 the mind of the student, any of those ftlse, or to say the 

 least, hypothetical views, which such terms are apt to im- 

 press upon him; and which exert an undesirable influence 

 on all his researches. 



The strata in England and Wales, described in that part 

 of the work under review, are, as already remarked, the 

 coal measures and all above these. In other words, it com- 



