REPORT ON GEOLOGY. 
380 
It is again to the labours of Mr. Murchison that we are indebted 
for the most complete comparative view of these German for¬ 
mations ; but the native geologists have well maintained the 
reputation of a country which in many respects has taken the 
lead in the researches of this science; and other Continental 
observers have also been active in this field. The name of 
Von Buch will here always hold the first rank ; his indefatigable 
labours have enabled him to complete, in forty-two sheets, a 
general geological map of Germany: this has been published by 
Schrop, and is one of the most perfect models of its kind. Berg- 
haus, well known by his map of the Hartz, has undertaken to 
continue his representation of the whole country on a still larger 
scale, and the maps by Hoffman of the North-west of Ger¬ 
many, and by Oeynhausen and Dechen of the provinces bor¬ 
dering the Rhine, are of the very highest merit. Elaborate 
Memoirs have also illustrated the geology of all the most impor¬ 
tant districts. Boue’s * Geognostisches Gemaelde von Deutsch¬ 
land, 1829, contains a full summary of the results of all those 
published up to that time, with many original observations of 
his own. Keferstein in his Teutschland Geol. dargestellt , of 
which the publication commenced in 1822 and has since been 
periodically continued for many years, has also incorporated 
a vast series of important essays, partly original and partly 
compiled from the best authorities, and illustrated throughout 
by maps and sections, which now include almost the whole of 
the associated limestone called muschelkalk, two considerable formations here 
separating the lias from the variegated sandstone (poecilite), but hitherto unde¬ 
tected in England. I am, however, now inclined to believe that the shelly chert 
reposing on the dolomitic conglomerate on the north border of the Mendip 
Hills at East Harptree, and the singular bed occurring immediately beneath 
the lias on the south of that chain near Shepton Mallet, which at the time 
I was led to refer to the lower lias, may, on further examination, be found to 
represent these Continental deposits; but however this may prove, their general 
absence is remarkable, and if we view the question more generally, it will be 
found to involve phenomena among the most inexplicable in geology. In 
Northern Europe, viz. the British Islands, the zechstein is extensive, but the 
muschelkalk generally wanting. About the latitude of the Hartz and Thuringer- 
wald both formations occur; but south of this, where the muschelkalk is most 
prevalent, eastward from the Vosges and westward from the Schwartzwald, the 
zechstein in its turn is absent; the absence of the carboniferous group and its 
lime also characterize the latter localities. As the conglomerates which in some 
of our counties appear as the equivalents of the zechstein are clearly derived 
from the carboniferous lime, are we authorized in attributing this source to the 
formation generally? if so, the absence of the one will naturally account for the 
absence of the other. 
* M. Bou6 has also published or submitted to various scientific societies many 
separate Memoirs on particular districts, e. g. the Carpathians, Moravia, Tran¬ 
sylvania, Gallicia, Bavaria, and South Germany. 
