142 The A iiicririin (ieoloijist. September, 1893 
In this paper only the more important points of Prof. Broad- 
head's criticism will he considered. 
I. Prof. Broadbead says: "Mr. Nason informs us that the 
reasons of the early geologists for separating the formations 
are insufficient. This seems gratuitous, as he does not give 
those reasons nor has he sufficiently studied the field to be able 
to give an opinion." 
Prof. Broadbead could not have read carefully the chapter 
to which he objects or he would have seen that the seven pages 
(pp. 96 to 103, Iron Ores of Missouri) were made up almost 
entirely of quotations from Broadbead, Shumard and Meek. 
These quotations are supposed to be the reasons upon which 
they based the division of the Ozark series. If these are not 
the reasons, they gave none in their written works in the sur- 
vey reports. 
If anyone will carefully read either the original reports from 
which I carefully quoted, or the quotations already referred 
to (pp. 9(5 to 103, Iron Ores of Missouri), he will find that the 
data there given, upon which are based the divisions of the 
Ozark series, are purely lithological. Data of this nature are 
always unreliable and to-day are almost, if not quite, dis- 
carded by geologists. They are never regarded as independent 
bases, but only as concurrent evidence. In the reports quoted, 
moreover, not only are the data altogether lithological, but 
the characteristics are so loose and rambling as not to give the 
shadow of a basis upon which to found even an unimportant 
geological division. 
The first quotation made seems to support the writer rather 
than Prof. Broadhead. Mr. Meek says in his report on Mon- 
iteau county : 
The rock I have supposed to be identical with the above, i. e., First 
or Saccharoidal sandstone, is everywhere in Moniteau, excepting in a 
very few instances where it is very thin, a heavy bedded friable sand- 
stone. It is usually indistinctly stratified, and varies in color, from 
nearly a pure white, through various shades of yellow, to a dusky brown. 
Sometimes it contains enough calcareous matter to cause feeble effer- 
vescence when acids are dropped upon it. 
It seems that Mr. Meek only supposed this rock to be iden- 
tic;! 1 : if he is sure of it he does not say so, and I leave it to 
any fair-minded reader to say whether the characteristics 
which he gives would serve cither to identify or differentiate 
