46 Charles Scliuchert — Historical Geology, 1818-1918. 



Doctor Merrill's statement in his well-known Contribu- 

 tions to the History of American Geology : 



"From its earliest inception geological notes and papers 

 occupied a prominent place in its pages, and a perusal of the 

 numbers from the date of issue down to the present time will, 

 alone, afford a fair idea of the gradual progress of American 

 geology. " 



Before presenting a synopsis of the more important 

 steps in the progress of historical geology in America, it 

 will be well to introduce a rapid survey of the rise of 

 geology in Europe, for, after all, American geology grew 

 out of that of England, France and Germany. This 

 dependence was conspicuously true during the first 

 four decades of the previous century. "With the rise of 

 the first New York State Survey (1836-1843) and that 

 of Pennsylvania (1836-1844, 1858), American geology 

 became more or less independent of Europe. Finally, 

 this article will conclude with a survey of the rise of 

 paleometeorology, paleogeography, evolution, and inver- 

 tebrate paleontology. 



The Rise of Geology in Europe. 



Mineral Geology. — The geological sciences had their 

 rise in the study of minerals as carried on by the German 

 chemist and physician George Bauer (1494-1555), better 

 known as Agricola. Bauer originated the critical study 

 of minerals, but did not distinguish his "fossilia," the 

 remains of organisms, from the inorganic crystal forms. 

 Mineral geology endured until the close of the eighteenth 

 century. 



Cosmogonists. — Then came the expounders of the 

 earth's origin, the cosmogonists of the sixteenth to the 

 end of the eighteenth centuries. The fashion of this 

 time was to write histories of the earth derived out of 

 the imagination. 



Earliest Historical Geology. — Even though Giovanni 

 Arduino (1713-1795) of Padua was not the first to 

 classify the rocks into three series according to their 

 age, he did this more clearly than any one else before his 

 time. The rocks about Yerona he grouped in 1759 into 

 Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, and Volcanic. This 

 three-fold classification came into general use, though 

 modified with time. 



