insignificant, introduces a new complication into the conditions of the earth, and accordingly those conditions are never quite the same. Although the changes were no doubt very slow, so that the same general conditions may be traced as existent during two successive periods, minor complications occurred in the inorganic and organic worlds, and we never get an exact recurrence of events. Vegetable deposits may now be in process of accumulation which in ages to come may be converted into coal, but the general conditions which were prevalent during that Carboniferous period when most of our workable coal was deposited do not now exist, and will never exist again. The changes which have taken place and which are taking place show an advance from the simple to the more complex, and the stratigraphical geologist is confronted with a problem to which the key is development, and it is his task to trace the development of the earth from the primitive state to the complex condition in which we find it at the present day.

Our general ignorance of the events of the earliest periods of the history of the earth will be emphasised in the sequel, and it will be found that the complexity which marks the inorganic and organic conditions which existed during the deposition of the earliest rocks of which we have detailed knowledge points to the lapse of enormous periods of time subsequent to the formation of the earth, and previous to the deposition of those rocks. The imperfection of the record is most pronounced for that long period of time, but in this respect the geologist is in the same condition as the student of human history, for the relics of the early stone age prove that man in that age had attained a fairly high state of civilisation, and the gap which separates palæolithic man from the first of our race is relatively speaking as great as that which divides the Cambrian period from the commencement of earth-history. Nevertheless, human history is a science which has made gigantic strides towards the solution of many problems connected with the development of man and civilisation, and similarly geology has advanced some way in its task of elucidating the history of our globe.

The task of the stratigraphical geologist is two-fold. In the first place, he must establish the order of succession of the strata, for a correct chronology is of paramount importance to the student of earth-lore. The precautions which must be taken in making out the order of deposition of the rocks of any area, and correlating those of one area with those of another will be considered in the body of the work. When this task is completed, there yet remains the careful examination of all the information supplied by a study of the rocks of the crust, in order to ascertain the actual conditions which existed during the deposition of any stratum or group of strata. In practice, it is generally very difficult to separate these two departments of the labour of the stratigraphical geologist, and the two kinds of work are often done to a large extent simultaneously, or sometimes alternately. Frequently the general succession of the deposits comprising an important group is ascertained, and at the same time observations made concerning the physical characters of the deposits and the nature of their included organisms, which are sufficient to afford some insight into the general history of the period when these deposits were laid down; a more detailed classification of the same set of deposits may be subsequently made, and as the result of this, more minute observations as to the variations in the physical and biological conditions of the period are possible, which permit us to write a much more concise history of the period. So great has been the tendency to carry on work in a more and more detailed manner, that it is very difficult if not impossible to tell when any approach to finality is reached in the study of a group of strata in any area. Roughly speaking, we may state that our knowledge of a group of strata is obtained by three processes, or rather modifications of one process. The general order of succession is established by the pioneer, frequently as the result of work carried on through one or two seasons. Subsequently to this, a more minute subdivision of the rocks is possible as the result of labours conducted by one or more workers who are enabled to avail themselves of the work of the pioneer, and our knowledge of the rocks is largely increased thereby. But the minutiæ, often of prime importance, are supplied by workers who must spend a large portion of their time in the area where the work lies, and it is only in districts where work of this character has been performed, that our knowledge of the strata approaches completion. The strata of the Arctic regions, for example, have in many places been examined by pioneers, but a great deal remains to be done in those regions; the main subdivisions only have been defined in many cases, and our information concerning the physical history of Arctic regions in past times is comparatively meagre. To come nearer home—a few miles north of Cambridge lies the little patch of Corallian rock at Upware; it has been frequently visited, and a large suite of organic remains extracted from it, but no one has devoted the time to the collection of remains from this deposit which has been devoted to that of some other formations presently to be mentioned, and accordingly our knowledge of the fauna of that deposit is far from complete. Contrast with this the information we possess of the little seam known as the Cambridge Greensand, from which organic remains have been sedulously collected during the extensive operations which have been carried on for the extraction of the phosphatic nodules which occur in the seam. The suite of relics of the organisms of that period is accordingly far more perfect than in the case of many other beds, and indeed the large and varied collection of relics of the vertebrata of the period which furnish much information of value to the palæontologist would not have been gathered together, had not this seam been so carefully worked, and an important paragraph in the chapter bearing on the history of this period would have remained unknown to us. Again, two little patches of limestone of the same age, one in central England and the other in the island of Gothland, have been the objects of sedulous inquiry by local observers, and we find again that our knowledge of the physical history of the period, as regards these two regions, is exceptionally perfect. Special stress is laid upon this point, for in these days, when every county possesses its learned societies whose members are desirous of advancing in every possible way the progress of science, it is well to insist upon the importance of this detailed work which can only be done by those who have a large amount of time to devote to the rigorous examination of the rocks of a limited area.

CHAPTER II.

ACCOUNT OF THE GROWTH AND PROGRESS OF STRATIGRAPHICAL GEOLOGY.

The history of the growth of a science is not always treated as an essential part of our knowledge of that science, and many text-books barely allude to the past progress of the science with which they deal. The importance of a review of past progress has, however, attracted the attention of many geologists, and Sir Charles Lyell, in his Principles of Geology, gave prominence to an historical sketch of the rise and progress of the science. Historical studies of this nature have more than an academic value; the very errors made by men in past times are useful as warnings to prevent those of the present day from going astray; the lines along which a science has progressed in the past may often be used as guides to indicate how work is to be conducted in