A century of science in America : $b with special reference to the American Journal of Science, 1818-1918
History
A century of science in America : $b with special reference to the American Journal of Science, 1818-1918
American journal of science; Science -- United States -- History
_Correlations with Europe._—The first effort toward correlating the New
York system with those of Europe was made by Conrad in his Notes on
American Geology in 1839 (=35=, 243). Here he compares it on faunal
grounds with the Silurian system. A more sustained effort was that of
Hall in 1843 (=45=, 157), when he said that the Silurian of Murchison
was equal to the New York system and embraced the Cambrian, Silurian,
and Devonian, which he considered as forming but one system. Hall in
1844 and Conrad earlier were erroneously regarding the Middle Devonian
of New York (Hamilton) as “an equivalent of the Ludlow rocks of Mr.
Murchison” (=47=, 118, 1844).
In 1846 E. P. De Verneuil spent the summer in America with a view to
correlating the formations of the New York system with those of Europe.
At this time he had had a wide field experience in France, Germany, and
Russia, was president of the Geological Society of France, and
“virtually the representative of European geology” (=2=, 153, 1846).
Hall says, “No other person could have presented so clear and perfect a
coup d’oeil.” De Verneuil’s results were translated by Hall and with his
own comments were published in the Journal in 1848 and 1849 under the
title “On the Parallelism of the Paleozoic Deposits of North America
with those of Europe.” De Verneuil was especially struck with the
complete development of American Paleozoic deposits and said it was the
best anywhere. On the other hand, he did not agree with the detailed
arrangement of the formations in the various divisions of the New York
system, and Hall admitted altogether too readily that the terms were
proposed “as a matter of concession, and it is to be regretted that such
an artificial classification was adopted.” De Verneuil’s correlations
are as follows:
The Lower Silurian system begins with the Potsdam, the analogue of the
Obolus sandstone of Russia and Sweden. The Black River and Trenton hold
the position of the Orthoceras limestones of Sweden and Russia, while
the Utica and Lorraine are represented by the Graptolite beds of the
same countries. Both correlations are in partial error. He unites the
Chazy, Birdseye, and Black River in one series, and in another the
Trenton, Utica, and Lorraine. Of species common to Europe and America he
makes out seventeen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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