THE PROPER USE OF THE GEOLOGICAL NAME, “BETHANY.” 
BY JOHN L. TILTON. 
The proper use of the terms “Bethany,” “Bethany Falls,” “Win- 
terset” and “Erie” formerly elicited considerable discussion, summar- 
ized by Bain 1 in his Guthrie county report. In that report and in the 
reports on Dallas and Madison 2 counties the term Bethany applies to 
the entire Winterset section. In the Decatur 3 county report also Beth- 
any applies to the entire Missouri section found, which is there divided 
into the following sub-stages: 
Stage. 
Bethany 
Sub-stage. 
Westerville 
De Kalb 
Winterset 
Earlham 
Fragmental 
Bain 4 , in his discussion of the Bethany Limestone at Bethany, Mis- 
souri, states that “it is not the particular limestone which is of signifi- 
cance, but the whole group of limestones, all of which are well shown 
within the town of Bethany, Missouri.” Since that time the correlation 
of the parts of this whole group of limestone has been carried to such 
an extent that the problem is no longer, What is the relation of these 
limestones to the coal bearing strata of the Des Moines formations? but, 
Which of these several limestone beds is it that outcrops in a given 
place? Indeed, Bain himself in the paper last named proceeds to 
describe the various strata of limestone outcropping within the town of 
Bethany and to correlate them with the various strata of limestone 
found in Madison and Decatur counties in Iowa, and in so doing he 
correlates the limestone over which the water plunges at Bethany Falls 
1 H. P. Bain, Geology of Guthrie County, Iowa Geological Survey,' Vol. VII, pp. 
449-450. 1896. 
2 Tilton and Bain, Geology of Madison County, Iowa Geol. Surv., Vol. VII. 1896. 
3 H. F. Bain, Geology of Decatur County, Iowa Geol. Surv., Vol. VIII. 1897. 
4 H. F. Bain, The Bethany Limestone at Bethany, Missouri, Am. Jour, of Sci., Vol. 
V, pp. 433-439, 1898. See also Geology of Decatur County, Iowa Geol. Surv., Vol. 
VIII, pp. 472-476, 1897. 
