Williams] PIERCE, SILLIMAN, MEADE, EATON. 29 



those of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, but in none of these 

 papers was there expressed any very clear appreciation of the strati- 

 graphic relations of the coal. 



Two such papers were by James Pierce. 1 



In the first paper the author gave no opinion as to the geological age 

 of the coal in Virginia, but in the secoud paper he referred the coal of 

 Lehigh, Mauch Chunk, Easton, and Potts ville to the " Grauwacke for- 

 mation," and regarded the Grauwacke as in the Transition group. This 

 was a recognition of a lower horizon for the coal than had been accepted 

 by the geologists in America. The coal heretofore discovered was re- 

 garded as belonging to the "Secondary formation" of the prevailing 

 classification. The author also noticed that the coal in the eastern part 

 of Pennsylvania is anthracite and the coal of the western deposits in 

 Pennsylvania is bituminous. 



Prof. Silliman, the editor of the American Journal of Science, also 

 published several papers, about this time, on the coals of Rhode Island, 

 Pennsylvania, and other regions. 2 But in his discussions on the coal, 

 it is its properties and economical uses rather than its geological posi- 

 tion which he considered. 



In 1827, William Meade 3 considered the anthracite in the region from 

 the Susquehanna to the Penobscot as decidedly belonging iu the Tran- 

 sition. Reference was made by him to the coal lately discovered near 

 the Tioga River, Pennsylvania. 4 



In 1828, Amos Eaton published in Albany a small treatise of some 

 thirty-one pages, entitled "A Geological Nomenclature for North Amer- 

 ica.' 75 



This publication is a revision of the "Nomenclature" published iu 

 the first part of the Erie Canal Survey of 1824, after suggestions re- 

 ceived from Prof. Parker Cleaveland, Dr. Steele, and others. There are 

 also some corrections based upon his own observations. Among the 

 latter are to be noticed the statement that " there is no mica slate in 

 Berkshire County on the western slope of the Green Mountain Range," 6 

 and " no Primitive Argillite in our district ;" u neither do 1 believe there 

 is such a ruck as Primitive Argillite on this globe," in which he follows 

 BakewelFs opinion. Auother modification is his statement that the 

 "Old Red sandstone of Werner is not a general stratum," but is found 

 in the third Gray wacke, and also in the second Graywacke. In this 

 view he follows Conybeare's opinion, as found in the Introduction of 

 Phillips's and Conybeare's Geology. 7 



1 The marl regions of Virginia and Maryland, and on the bituminous coal formation in Virginia ; 

 Am. Jonr.Sci.,vol.ll,1826, pp 54-59. The mountain districts of Pennsylvania, and the mineral resources 

 of that State, including its bituminous coal ; ibid., vol. 12, 1827, pp. 54-74. 



2 Am. Jour. Sci., vol. 11, p. 78 ; ibid., 1830, vol. 18, p. 308 ; ibid., 1831, vol. 19, p. 1-21. 

 'Remarks on thfc Anthracites of Europe and America, Am. Jour. Sci., vol. 12, p. 76. 

 •Ibid., vol. 14, pp. 32-35. 



6 In the Am. Jour. Sci., vol. 13, pp. 145-159 and 359-368, is found substantially the same article 

 under the title of Geological Nomenclature, Classes of Rocks, etc., by Prof. Amos Eaton. 

 6 See op. cit. foot-note, p. 146. 

 7 Ibid., pp. 147 and 155. 



