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WinchelL] ^° [Marcli 5, 



sition is manifested, liowever, in certain quarters, to the verdict which is 

 already sliadoAved forth ; and there are probably few whose convictions 

 have been satisfactorily and finally settled by a comprehensive comparison 

 of the facts which have been collected. I think, therefore, it may be nse- 

 ful, in the present state of opinion, to bring forward a review of the data 

 upon which the controversy has proceeded, and to furnish the grounds of 

 the convictions which for some years past have been strengthening in my 

 own mind. In doing this, I hope I shall be actuated by a spirit of candor, 

 and sentiments of profound respect for the distinguished names arrayed 

 against my position. I seek only the truthful determination of the ques- 

 tion; and I would not raise my voice in a discussion where so many worthier 

 ones have been heard, did I not recall to mind that the merest child, or 

 the humblest peasant may stumble upon phenomena which the philosopher 

 had long sought in vain, and which may serve as the solvent of chronic 

 and distressing doubts. 



II. HisTOBY OF Discovery and Opikion. 



So far as I have observed, the first distinct allusion by any geological 

 writer to the zone of rocks under consideration, is embraced in an elabor- 

 ate description of the topography and geology of the "bituminous coal 

 deposits of the valley of the Ohio, and of the accompanying rock strata ' ' 

 by that distinguished pioneer of western geology. Dr. S. P. Hildreth.' 



In the section which he has given of the "Ferruginous deposits, "^ it 

 would appear that the lower beds, 500 feet in thickness, extend into the 

 series afterwards designated the " Waverly series " by the Ohio geologists. 

 Dr. Hildreth styles them the ' ' Great Lias Rock, ' ' and afterwards an 

 "Argillaceous sandstone rock, very fine grained, " &c. Dr. S. G. Morton 

 appends to this paper descriptions and figures ("mostly too imperfect for 

 idejitification) of several species of included fossils. 



In 1838, Mr. C. Briggs," assistant upon the geological survey of Ohio, 

 bestoAved the name ' ' Waverly Sandstone Series ' ' upon the lower portion 

 of the succession of shales, sandstones, and shaly sandstones, interposed 

 between the so-called Black Slate and the great Carboniferous Conglome- 

 rate. The series took its name from the village of Waverly in the southern 

 part of the State in Pike county, since some of the most beautiful building 

 stones afforded by the series had been quarried at that place. The Ohio 

 geologists, however, in other and subsequent publications, generally 

 referred to this assemblage of strata under the designation of "Fine 

 Grained Sandstone Series,"* The lower limits of the series, as defined, 

 were distinctly marked by the horizon of the Black Shale ; but the upper 

 limits Avere not stated with precision. It does not appear however that 

 the sei'ies was originally supposed to reach upwards to the Conglomerate ;^ 



1 Amer. .Jour. Science and Arts, vol. 29, p. 1, and Plates 1 to xxxvi, 



2 lb', p. 133; also 136. s (firgt Ann. Rep., Ohio, p. 79. 



■• See for instance "Report of Special Committee to report on the hest method of obtaining a 

 complete geological survey,"' 1836, p. 13, where the expression seems to have been first employed; 

 Whittlesey, Second Ann. Report, 1838, p. 56; J. W. Foster, lb. p. 76 ; Briggs, lb. pp. 122, 130. 



= Whittlesey, 2d Ann. Rep., p. 56. 



