120 
GEOLOGY 
This Tabular view is certainly, next to the classification of the Paleozoic strata of New York, 
the best thing that has been done for the grouping and superposition of the Transition strata of 
America. There is only one subdivision that appears to me to occupy a false position, namely 
the Red Sandstone of Lake Superior. The most remarkable discovery of David Dale Owen is that of 
the Primordial Fauna in his group of the Lower Sandstone of Wisconsin and Minnesota F. 1. Until then, 
Emmons had only found Lingula in the Potsdam Sandstone, and it was only in 1847 between the falls 
of S‘ Anthony and the mouth of the Wisconsin, that Owen discovered the first Trilobite, and the 
next year several species and even genera of Trilohites, lAngula, Orbicula, Orthis , and Crinoidea, 
were found in the same group. Almost at the same time Barrande made his discovery of the Pri- 
mordial Fauna of Bohemia, and Angevin that of his Fauna of the Regioncs A., Olenorum-, and B., 
Conocorypharum , of Scandinavia. Thus Emmons had the honor of /5)-s« recognizing the /’otsdam Sand- 
stone, but Owen was the first to find the Primordial Fauna in the strata of this Group. 
These two geological surveys are much the best of all that have been undertaken in America, and 
serve as models for those in process of execution. I should mention , however, as well executed, 
the Geological Survey of Massachussetts, by Ed. Hitchcock; that of Lake Superior, by C. T. Jack- 
son; of Alabama, by Tuomey; of Tennessee, by Salford; and of Missouri, by Swallow, Shumard , 
and Meek. As to the survey of the two Canadas , it was honored at the two Great Universal Ex- 
hibitions of London 1851, and Paris 1855, with medals, decorations of the Legion of Honor, and 
even with a Knight’s title from the Sovereigns of England and France, and its Director General 
W. E. Logan, aided by T. Sterry-IIunt, mineralogist of the survey, has shown to the scientific 
w'orld, with so much modesty and talent, the grand results and discoveries of their joint survey, that 
nothing remains for others to say , but to express their admiration and gratitude for the half dozen 
hieroglyphical pamphlets they have published , under the title of Report of Progress of the Geological 
Survey of Canada. 
The first comparison of the American Paleozoic strata with those of Europe, was made by 
Conrad in 18B9, 40, and 42. Hall also made an attempt in 1840 and 43; and Daniel Sharpe, while 
studying the fossils collected by Charles Lyell during his first visit to America, also attempted a 
detailed comparison of these strata (See : Quart. Journ. of the Geol. Soc. of London, vol. IV, p. 145; 
London, 1848.). Vanuxem had in 1829 recognized the similarity of the western forma- 
tions to those of New York, and James Hall, in an excellent and interesting memoir, entitled: 
Notes explanatory of a Section from Cleveland , Ohio, to the Mississippi river, in a south-west direction; with 
remarks upon the identity of the western formations with those of New York : and published in 1843 in the 
Reports of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists, page 267 etc.; Boston; has made a 
very remarkable comparison between the Paleozoic rocks of the State of New York and those of 
the States of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Missouri. But de Verneuil first truly synchronized the 
Paleozoic strata of America with the great European divisions of the same period, and his com- 
parison has been generally accepted. De Verneuil made a rapid excursion through America as far 
as the Upper Mississippi, during the summer of 184C, and on his return to Europe he presented 
to the Geological Society of France, 19 April 1847, his memoir entitled: Note stir le parallelisme des 
roches des de'pdls Paleozoiques de I'Amerique Septentrionale avec ceux de I' Europe ( See : Rulletin de la Soc. 
Gdol. de France, 2''"'' serie, tome IV, page 646 etc.; Paris, 1847.). In this memoir, which may be 
