Schopf, maclure, werner, and the earliest work on american geology

Sch?pf produced the first substantial report on the geology of North America, a work that has long suffered unjustified oblivion. In at least one feature this treatise is superior to that of Maclure (the"Father of American Geology")- Sch?pf attempted interpretation whereas Maclure did not. The suggestion is here offered that MacLure, who adopted Werner's classification of the stratigraphic succession, was simply shying away from Wernerian interpretation because he did not like the looks of it.