Williams.] THE FIRST NEW YORK SURVEY. 39 



The Dew school of geologists, when they began work in New York 

 State, made careful stratigraphic observations. Following the methods 

 begun by Murchison and Sedgwick, although taking the data from the 

 facts as they found them, they arrived at a correct interpretation of 

 the strata of New York, which are peculiarly simple in their strati- 

 graphic relations. And ultimately the " New York system," as it was 

 afterward called (the name was proposed as a temporary name for 

 convenience), became the standard section for American Paleozoic 

 rocks. This New York system of rocks is for the Paleozoic one of the 

 most perfect and satisfactory geologic sections found anywhere in the 

 world, and may well stand as a classic section for the interpretation of 

 the rocks which had been called Transition in the older nomenclature. 

 In 1837, the first annual report of the Geological Survey of New York 

 was published. In this report, T. A. Conrad, who had previously stud- 

 ied the paleontology of Tertiary deposits along the coast, and was rec- 

 ognized as a paleontologist of ability, reported for the third district 

 of New York. In classification, the nomenclature of Eaton mainly 

 was usad. We notice 1 that in the main the strata he studied were 

 recognized as belonging to " the Silurian or Lower Transition rocks. 

 Thus it will be seen that the Murchisonian classification had already 

 reached America. 



In this first report special attention is called to the importance of 

 having the fossils carefully studied by a man specially appointed for that 

 purpose, as State paleontologist. The next year Conrad was appointed 

 paleontologist. 



In the second report, 1838, Conrad, as paleontologist, reported the fol- 

 lowing points, which will show the progress that had been made during 

 the year. He concluded that with the exception of the upper part of 

 the Catskill Mountains, the rocks of the State terminate with the u Up- 

 per Ludlow rocks' 7 of Murchison ; and he noted that the fossils in the 

 strata below the coal in Tioga County are the same as those in the 

 Coldbrook Dale coal, and also that the same fossils are recognized in 

 Ohio. 2 



Among the fossils discovered in the various strata he found what he 

 regarded as equivalents of those reported from foreign rocks in the fol- 

 lowing places : 



(1) Below the Catskill strata fossils equivalent to those of the Lud- 

 low. 3 



(2) A limestone and two strata of sandstone with fossils equivalent 

 to those of the Dudley. 4 



(3) The "Calciferous slate" of Eaton, containing the gypsum, was 

 correlated with the " dye earth" of Shropshire. 5 



(4) The " Saliferous sand rock " of Eaton, was the Bed sandstone at 

 Niagara and Genesee Rivers (now the Medina sandstone. 6 ) 



•Op. cit.,p. 184. 4 Ibid., p. 111. 



2 Op. cit., pi>. 100, 110. "Ibid., p. 112. 



3 Ibid., p. 110. «Ibid.,p. 113. 



