THE 
AMERICAN GEOLOGIST. 
Vol. XVI. 
DECEMBER, 1895. 
No. 6. 
[Crucial points in the geology of the Lake Superior region. No. in.l 
COMPARATIVE TAXONOMY OF THE ROCKS OF 
THE LAKE SUPERIOR REGION. 
By \. H. WixcHELL. Minneapolis, Minn. 
It remains now, in concluding this review, to gatlier to- 
gether in a more concise form the views that have been pre- 
sented, and to show what contrasts thej^ present with the 
taxonomy of Messrs. Walcott and Van Hise. These geologists 
are not themselves primarily responsible for the classification 
which they have adopted, although they construct their 
schemes and adjust their arguments upon it. Thev inherited 
it from the Wisconsin survey in part and in part have allowed 
it to grow up from an artificial and fortuitous set of condi- 
tions arising largely from personal preferences and ])r('jndices 
engendered by the literature of the last lift}' years. It is 
probable that the understanding of the stratigraphy of the 
Lake Superior region, at the horizon of the lowest Paleozoic 
rocks, will serve in some measure, as in the understanding of 
the pi-e-Taconic, in applying the key to the stratigraphy of 
these terranes in tlie eastern part of the United States. The 
greater a])undance of the superficial drift in New England, the 
greater complexity of the early folding and the consefpient 
metamorphism, the more limited scope of the early individual 
observations, the greater haste with which they were made on 
the crystalline and sub-crystalline rocks, and the active zeal 
of the observers to support j)ersoiial opinions, i-csulling in 
