Frederick McCoy and his contributions to stratigraphical palaeontology

Sir Frederick McCoy made a significant contribution to the foundation of stratigraphical palaeontology. He carried out extensive taxonomic work sorting, naming and describing the Palaeozoic fossils of Ireland and Britain, and also played a decisive role in the debate between Adam Sedgwick and Roderick Murchison on where to draw the boundary between the Cambrian and Silurian systems. On his arrival in the Colony of Victoria in December 1854 he found that, contrary to the expectations of most European scientists, much of the stratigraphy and palaeontology paralleled that in the Northern Hemisphere. Hence McCoy was the first to confirm that the geological column was a global phenomenon.<br />