_floetz_, or "a level floor;" and every deposit more modern than the chalk, which was classed as the uppermost of the floetz series, was designated "the overflowed land," an expression which may be regarded as equivalent to alluvium, although under this appellation were confounded all the strata afterwards called tertiary, of which Werner had scarcely any knowledge. As the followers of Werner soon discovered that the inclined position of the "transition beds," and the horizontality of the floetz, or newer fossiliferous strata, were mere local accidents, they soon abandoned the term floetz; and the four divisions of the Wernerian school were then named primitive, transition, secondary, and alluvial. As to the trappean rocks, although their igneous origin had been already demonstrated by Arduino, Fortis, Faujas, and others, and especially by Desmarest, they were all regarded by Werner as aqueous, and as mere subordinate members of the secondary series.[91-A] This theory of Werner's was called the "Neptunian," and for many years enjoyed much popularity. It assumed that the globe had been at first invested by an universal chaotic ocean, holding the materials of all rocks in solution. From the waters of this ocean, granite, gneiss, and other crystalline formations, were first precipitated; and afterwards, when the waters were purged of these ingredients, and more nearly resembled those of our actual seas, the transition strata were deposited. These were of a mixed character, not purely chemical, because the waves and currents had already begun to wear down solid land, and to give rise to pebbles, sand, and mud; nor entirely without fossils, because a few of the first marine animals had begun to exist. After this period, the secondary formations were accumulated in waters resembling those of the present ocean, except at certain intervals, when, from causes wholly unexplained, a partial recurrence of the "chaotic fluid" took place, during which various trap rocks, some highly crystalline, were formed. This arbitrary hypothesis rejected all intervention of igneous agency, volcanos being regarded as modern, partial, and superficial accidents, of trifling account among the great causes which have modified the external structure of the globe.