2l6 



POPULAR SCIEJSCE MONTHLY. 



Prof. C. D. Walcott, Director, United States 

 Geological Survey. 



were declared by the Swiss 

 council alone eligible and 

 representative, and were 

 made vice-president and dele- 

 gate from the United States, 

 At present too many mem- 

 bers of government bureaus 

 comprise the official roster of 

 the congress, although the 

 congress itself is composed of 

 several hundred of the most 

 distinguished geologists of 

 the world, who, if not mem- 

 bers of a geological survey, 

 are ignored by those now in 

 control. This is a situation 

 which does not commend it- 

 self to scientific men, many 

 of whom occupy chairs in 

 great universities or emi- 

 nent positions as specialists. 

 These men think the abuse 

 has become a flagrant one. 



countries and hold office, the 

 congress at St. Petersburg 

 may be the last. Formerly 

 the officers of geological sur- 

 veys of nations fought the 

 establishment of the con- 

 gress. The congresses once 

 established, the bureaucrats 

 changed front, got hold of 

 the machinery through their 

 representatives, and now 

 mostly control it. At St. 

 Petersburg the unofficial ge- 

 ologists of the world will try 

 to wrest the direction from 

 the members of geological 

 surveys. At Ziirich, for in- 

 stance, there were present 

 thirteen of the most distin- 

 guished geologists of the 

 United States. Two sala- 

 ried assistants of the Unit- 

 ed States Geological Survey 



J'u'iF. .1. .1. StI'.vknson, University of New York, 

 President New Yorli Academy of Sciences. 



