MANUAL OF GEOLOGY TREATING OF THE PRINCIPLES OF THE SCIENCE GEOLOGICAL HISTORY BY JAMES D. DANA PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY IN YALE UNIVERSITY: AUTHOR OF ILLUSTRATED BY OVER FIFTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE FIGURES FOURTH EDITION NEW YORK: CINCINNATI .:. CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY PREFACE. In the preparation of the new edition of this Manual, the work has been wholly rewritten. North American Geological History is still, however, its chief subject. The time divisions in this history, based on the ascertained subdivisions of the formations, were first brought out in my Address before the meeting of the American Association at Providence in 1855; and in 1863, the "continuous history" appeared in the first edition of this Manual, written up from the State reports and other geological publications. The idea, long before recognized, that all observations on the rocks, however local, bore directly on the stages in the growth of the Continent derives universal importance from the recognition of North America as the world's type-continent-the only continent that gives, in a full and simple way, the fundamental principles of continental development. Since 1863, when the first edition of this work was published, investigation, through the geological workers of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, has been extended over nearly all parts of the continent, so that its history admits of being written out with much fullness. The Government Expeditions over the Rocky Mountain region, under F. V. HAYDEN, CLARENCE KING, CAPTAIN WHEELER and others, and earlier, those especially of the Pacific Railroad Explorations, and the Mexican Boundary Commission, were large contributors to this result; and also, since 1879, the able corps of the United States Geological Survey. As the rewritten book shows, new principles, new theories, and widely diverse opinions on various subjects are among the later contributions, along with a profusion of new facts relating to all departments of the science. The Cambrian formation has been traced through a large part of the continent, and the number of its fossils has been increased, chiefly by C. D. WALCOTT, from a few to hundreds. The Appalachian Mountain structure has been shown by CLARENCE KING, Dr. G. M. DAWSON, and R. G. McCONNELL to have been repeated in the great post-Cretaceous mountain-making of the Rocky Mountain region. The Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals of the Mesozoic and Tertiary have continued coming from the rocks until the species recognized much outnumber those of any other continent. The cañons and other results of erosion in the west have thrown new light, through their investigators, on the work of the waters. Besides, the science of 3 petrology has elucidated much of the obscure in the constitution, relations, and origin of rocks. Moreover, America, from early in the century, has been receiving instruction through the development and parallel progress of the Science in Europe and other lands. The first edition of this Manual owed much to the advice of the able paleontologist, F. B. MEEK, and also to his skill as a draftsman; and the work still bears prominent evidence of his knowledge, judgment, and scrupulous exactness, traits which give a permanent value to all the results of his too soon ended labors. In this new edition, the Paleozoic paleontology is largely indebted to PROFESSOR C. E. BEECHER and PROFESSOR H. S. WILLIAMS; the Jurassic, of western America, to PROFESSOR A. HYATT; the Cretaceous, to PROFESSOR HYATT, MR. T. W. STANTON, MR. R. P. WHITFIELD, and PROFESSOR R. T. HILL; and the Tertiary, as regards the Invertebrates, to PROFESSOR G. D. HARRIS. With respect to the Vertebrates of the Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary, very valuable aid has been received from PROFESSOR MARSH, and also in the part on Tertiary Mammals from PROFESSOR W. B. SCOTT. The account of the arrangement and distribution of the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks of western America was prepared with the assistance of MR. J. S. DILLER; and that with regard to the marine Tertiary of the country was chiefly written for its place by PROFESSOR HARRIS. I am further indebted to PROFESSOR A. E. VERRILL for his revision of the pages on the Animal Kingdom. Moreover, the replies to requests for information have placed me under obligation to almost all the geologists of the Continent, those of Canada as well as the United States, and especially to SIR WILLIAM DAWSON, MR. A. R. C. SELWYN, DR. G. M. DAWSON, MR. CLARENCE KING, MR. C. D. › WALCOTT, PROFESSOR N. S. SHALER, PROFESSOR S. H. SCUDDER, MR. FRANK LEVERETT, PROFESSOR R. T. HILL, PROFESSOR W. UPHAM, PROFESSOR G. F. WRIGHT, PROFESSOR J. J. STEVENSON, MR. WM. H. DALL, DR. C. A. WHITE, and PROFESSOR J. P. IDDINGS. Throughout this volume, the dates of papers containing cited facts or views are often stated. If a condensed bibliography, containing in brief form the titles of the most important geological and paleontological works and papers, arranged under the year of publication, were accessible to the student, these dates would be a sufficient means of reference. Without such a Bibliography they may serve as a help in consulting, besides Reports of Geological Surveys, the serial scientific publications. It is best to commence the search with the periodical containing the most geological papers, notes, and book notices, and follow on with the others. The American Journal of Science commenced in 1818; the American Naturalist, in 1868; the American Geologist, in 1888; the Bulletin of the American. Geological Society, in 1890; the Journal of Geology, Chicago, in 1893. Then refer to the Proceedings and Memoirs of American Scientific Soci eties or Academies, in the following order: Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia; American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia; Society of Natural History, Boston; American Academy, Boston; Lyceum of Natural History, and later, Academy of Sciences, New York; and so on, not overlooking the Reports of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The foreign serial works of most importance to the geologist are the Journal of the Geological Society of London; the Geological Magazine, London; Bulletin of the Geological Society of France; "Comptes Rendus" of the Academy of Sciences, Paris; Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie und Palaeontologie, Stuttgart; Zeitschrift der deutschen geologischen Gesellschaft, Berlin; Jahrbuch der k.-k. geologischen Reichsanstalt, Vienna. For foreign facts and views I am largely indebted to the able English works of SIR ARCHIBALD GEIKIE, PROFESSOR PRESTWICH, and PROFESSORS ETHERIDGE and SEELEY, the very full Traité de Géologie of PROFESSOR A. DE LAPPARENT, and the Elemente der Geologie of DR. CREDNER. As the volume is necessarily larger than that of the edition of 1880, — partly through more text, but also through a greater profusion of illustrations, the instructor may find it convenient, in his use of the Historical part, to take up successively its two great subjects, the geological and physical history of the continents, and the history of its life. NEW HAVEN, CONN., January, 1895. JAMES D. DANA. |