1867. J /Sir Charles Lijell and Modern Geoluyy. 9 



(Middle Eocene) strata of the Paris Basin and other districts. Sir 

 Charles Lyell, however, refers to his Lower Miocene ail the beds 

 as far down as the Hempstead series, including that deposit. The 

 remaining strata in question he calls Upper Eocene. Sir Charles 

 has confessed repeatedly that his line is purely arbitrary ; but he 

 contends that the other is equally so, and that there is consequently 

 no need of a new term. Few Tertiary palaeontologists will, we 

 imagine, agree with him in this, and it certainly seems preferable 

 to curtail the Eocene and Miocene, and interpolate a new group, 

 than to be confessedly reduced to the necessity of drawing a line 

 where there is no physical or palaeontological break. 



In the Vienna Basin there exists a very complete series of 

 Miocene (Upper Miocene of Lyell) deposits, passing gradually 

 upwards into newer strata. From the difficulty the Austrian 

 geologists have experienced, in defining the upper limit of the 

 Miocene deposits, they have at last been led to abandon 

 the terms Miocene and Pliocene, and to group the whole of the 

 strata embraced within their definitions under the single term 

 Neogene. In endeavours to assign to their place in the series 

 the Tertiary deposits of other regions, questions have been raised 

 as to the value of the distinction between Miocene and Pliocene 

 strata, and some palaeontologists have gone so far as to assert that 

 the significance of the terms is far more climatal than chronological ; 

 in fact, that in tropical regions it is impossible to say that certain 

 deposits are Miocene and not Pliocene, or vice versa. Under 

 these circumstances it certainly does seem advisable to unite the 

 two divisions, especially for the purpose of assigning to their 

 proper horizon the fossils of low latitudes. The revised classifica- 

 tion would then exhibit to the old one of Sir Charles Lyell the 

 relation shown in the following table : — 



Lyell's Classification. German Classification. 



Pliocene 

 Upper Miocene 



Lower Miocene 

 Upper Eocene 



Middle Eocene 

 Lower Eocene 



> Neogene. 

 i Oligocene. 



> Eocene. 



Even this revised classification cannot claim the merit of being 

 entirely natural ; but it is certainly nearer that Ultima Thule of 

 systematists than the original one of Sir Charles Lyell. It would 

 indeed be strange if geology had made no progress in this direction 

 for more than thirty years ; and the only marvel is that, in a 

 science which makes such gigantic strides, the original classification 

 has not by this time been entirely swept away. The fact that 

 it has not, is, however, conclusive testimony of the reality and 



