20 



GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



vanced views in regard to the relations of the formation which seem to 

 require a few words of comment. On page 97, note of JMr. Carll's report, 

 on the Venango county oil district, Professor Lesley says : 



"We have not used the general term Waverly sandstone formation of the Ohio geol- 

 ogists because of the controversies to which it has given rise, and because its subdivisions 

 correspond to our Pennsylvania formations." 



These considerations seem to us insufficient, since the controversies 

 alluded to resulted in demonstrating that the Waverly was a distinct 

 and important formation in Ohio and other Western States, and in the 

 accurate determination of its place and age ; also, because its subdivis- 

 ions do not correspond to the Pennsylvania formations, and it was named 

 before they were. Hence the law of priority, the truth of science, and a 

 proper regard for the courtesies of life, require the Waverly to be recog- 

 nized as such by any one who writes about the geology of Ohio. On page 

 sixty-seven of the report referred to, he says : 



" Dr. Newberry makes the Cuyahoga shale to be the uppermost member of the Wa- 

 verly Crroup (his sub-Carboniferous system consisting of Cuyahoga shale, Bereagrit, Bed- 

 ford shale, and Cleveland shale — that is, all from the Conglomerate down to the Erie 

 shale.) The geology of Pennsylvania opposes the adoption of this name, for resaons 

 already alluded to and to be fully stated hereafter. The imperfect series of rocks at 

 Cleveland afford no opportunity for so important a classification ; but the name Cuya- 

 hoga shale will stand, for it designates a formation extending eastward with an ever 

 growing thickness, until on the Schuylkill River it becomes 3,000 feet thick." 



In answer to this paragraph, it may be said : 



1. That the term Waverly Group was not coined by Dr. Newberry, but 

 was conferred by the first Geological Corps of Ohio on the Waverly sand- 

 stone series, as exposed about Waverly, in southern Ohio. 



2. The subdivisions of the Waverly [Group established by Dr. New- 

 berry, were not founded on the exposures of the Waverly rocks at Cleve- 

 land, but were proposed after a careful study of the formation throughout 

 northern Ohio, where these subdivisions were found to prevail over 

 twelve counties and along a line of outcrop of more than 150 miles. 



3. The section of the Waverly Group at Cleveland, is one of the most 

 complete in Ohio, and if the classification adopted had been copied from 

 this section, it would have fairly represented all the difierent^elements 

 which compose the Waverly throughout the Western Reserve. 



4. It has nowhere been claimed in the reports of the Ohio Survey, 

 that these subdivisions of the Waverly could be recognized in other 

 States, or in other parts of Ohio than the district referred to ; indeed, it 

 was clearly shown in the description of the Waverly already published, 

 that in central and southern Ohio the lithological characters of the group 



