44 The American Geologist. January, 1896 
Yet it should never be forgotten that in spite of its cer¬ 
tainty the paleontologic law rests absolutely on a strati¬ 
graphic basis ancl if collision or apparent contradiction ap¬ 
pears between them there is no question regarding the one that 
must give way. Such cases have occurred in which an excess 
of confidence in the secondary method has led to the misplace¬ 
ment of strata on paleontologic grounds. We may quote the 
well known instance of the Glossopteris flora in Australia 
where the occurrence of European Mesozoic plants led to the 
placing of the Carboniferous strata of New South Wales on 
too high a horizon, whereas the truth was that the late as¬ 
pect of the flora was due to the earlier existence of Mesozoic 
species in the southern hemisphere and their subsequent mi¬ 
gration northward. Had paleontology been born in the south 
the opposite mistake would have occurred. Yet more recently 
a similar error was made in transposing the Olenellus and 
Paradoxides beds of the American Cambrian in opposition to 
the unquestionable evidence of European stratigraphy. But 
an examination of the totally undisturbed strata in Newfound¬ 
land set the matter at rest and brought the two records into 
perfect harmony. Other similar cases might be adduced, but 
these will suffice to show that while the ready and compara¬ 
tively easy method of paleontology is the geologist’s first re¬ 
sort for the determination of the date of any stratum, yet the 
infallible standard of stratigraphy is ever kept as a reference 
in all cases of doubt or of serious difficulty. 
If we may be allowed to use a somewhat homely and yet 
appropriate figure, we would say that paleontology is the 
timepiece of geology, serving the same purpose for that 
science as do our watches and clocks for the ordinary engage¬ 
ments of life. The time was when the only knowledge of the 
hour was obtained from the sun by day and the stars by 
night. A glance upward told, very roughly it is true, the 
progress of the sun across the sky, at least if the day was 
clear. But now very few regard the sun as a timekeeper, save 
rustics,/hunters and woodsmen, or those living in countries to 
which civilization has scarcely penetrated and where the 
accurate division of time is unimportant and its value is 
small. The clock, the watch and the chronometer have super¬ 
seded “ Helios ” in all the daily concerns of civilized life, and 
