BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 

 Vol. 31, pp. 383-388 September 30, 1920 



FOSSILS AS AIDS IN TEACHING STRATIGRAPHY, OR 

 APPLIED PALEONTOLOGY 1 



BY STUART WELLER 



(Read before the Society December 31, 1919) 



The importance of the subject of applied paleontology is, of course, 

 due to the fact that long experience has demonstrated that the only satis- 

 factory data for establishing a geological chronology are to be gathered 

 from a study of the successive life forms in the earth's strata, and the 

 chronological relations of the various rock strata with which the geologist 

 comes into contact in his field studies are a consideration of the highest 

 importance to him. It must be recognized in this connection that both 

 the paleontology and the stratigraphy, from the standpoint of the geol- 

 ogist, are but adjuncts to historical geology, and the ultimate purpose of 

 applied paleontology is to throw light upon the succession of events that 

 have taken place in the course of the earth's history. 



Before discussing the proper methods to be pursued in the training of 

 students in applied paleontology, the necessary qualifications of one who 

 is to devote himself to such work must be considered. It is almost axio- 

 matic that the usefulness of one's knowledge of fossils in the solution of 

 problems in stratigraphy and historical geology is in distinct relation to 

 his familiarity with numbers of fossil forms, to his knowledge of their 

 kno^vTl stratigraphic positions and their faunal associations, and in his 

 ability to properly discriminate genera and species. 



As greater and greater refinement is demanded in stratigraphy, greater 

 and greater refinement is constantly being demanded in the discrimina- 

 tion of both genera and species, and larger numbers of these forms are 

 continually being recognized, described, and named, so that the amount 

 of desirable knowledge for the paleontologist is assuming enormous pro- 

 ])ortions. The magnitude of this body of desirable information is typified 



1 Manuscript received by tlie Secretary of tlie Society December 31. 1919. 

 This paper is one of a series composing a symposium on the teaching of geology and 

 paleontologj'. 



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