On the probable Age of the London Clay, and its Relations to the Hampshire and Paris Tertiary Systems

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Abstract
It is not intended on the present occasion to enter generally upon the subject* of the London clay, nor yet to describe its structure and fauna further than may he necessary to prove the argument of this paper, which is, that tne London clay of Highgate, Sheppey, and other places in the neighbourhood of London, apparently is not, as it has hitherto been considered, synchronous with the Calcaire grossier of Paris, nor yet with the clays of Barton, and the clays and sands of Bracklesham; but that it is of older date than these, and consequently occupies a lower position in the Eocene series. Old terms are altered with difficulty; they have the sanction of usage and weight of successive authorities, and are in geology occasionally apt, by their theoretical signification, to stand in lieu of proof. In the case before us, considering up to a late period the contemporaneity of the marine strata of London, Bracklesham, Barton, and Paris well established, I thought it scarcely necessary to investigate the data on which their identification rested; or rather, proceeding under the full impression of its correctness, I yielded to it facts, and endeavoured to conform to it phænomena, which, had I allowed them their due influence, would have earlier led to independent inferences. The differences known to exist in the fauna of these groups had been attributed solely to changes of condition and distance—causes, which as they produce effects whose limits are not easily assignable, sometimes prevent inquiry by offereing

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