175 
('.T PPv Reprint 
27 
Page 14S 
The next important step in onr knowledge of the geologj- 
of the islands was the commencement of the Government 
Geological Surve}* ; the island first examined being Trini- 
dad. The determination of the tertiar}- rocks of the island 
was base upon what had been previoush- published by Mr. 
Carrick Moore. But the classification thus arrived at w’as 
imperfect. This fault was in great measure due no doubt 
to the ver}" little attention paid to the fossils ; the object of 
the surve)’ being principally economic and practical geolo- 
gy. Still, a useful warning may be drawn from this, as to 
the impossibility of obtaining correct views without the aid 
of the higher sciences. 
The greatest share of the verification of the Caribean 
Miocene fell to the lot of Dr. Duncan, who described the 
rich .series of fos.sil corals from the tertiarj’ beds of Antigua, 
Jamaica, Haiti and other i,slands Dr. Duncan’s elaborate 
and highl3* successful investigations enabled him to confirm 
the previous generalizations on the age of the Caribean 
Miocene, and to perceive and illu.strate the applicabilitt’ of 
the theory of the migration of organized beings to the case 
in question. His researches tended to give a greater degree 
of proba’oilit\' to the ht'pothe.sis of the tertiart' Atlantis on 
which Heer had labored, and to the .support of which the 
arguments of Forbes, Godvvin-Au.sten and Darwin had lent 
such force. 
The next advance in West-Indiau geologv was due to 
the zeal and industry’ of Mr. Barrett, Director of the Geo- 
logical Surve\' of the We.st-Indies. That naturalist collected 
a fine series of remains from the Jamaican tertiaries ; but 
before he could describe them he lost his life in diving for 
tho.se living organisms a knowledge of which was necessarx 
to enable him to judge accurateh- as to the true nature of 
