IS PROCEEDINGS OF TORONTO MEETING. 



should be devised to provide for the disposal of the ever increasing number 

 and importance of those questions beyond the limited time allotted to Section 

 E in the meetings of our Association ; for the work of the section, including 

 geography and geology, is so great that it is compelled to leave many of its 

 papers unread, and its discussions are often curtailed beyond what is desirable 

 and important. 



Therefore, without any other object or feeling than here stated, this 

 American Geological Society has been formed; and I hope that every mem- 

 ber of this organization will feel that while acting independently in the Geo- 

 logical Society he still owes allegiance to the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science. We can maintain our own Society, giving us more 

 freedom to do good work for geology, and at the same time afford to give 

 sufficient time, energy, and earnestness to Section E in the American Asso- 

 ciation, and show that the members have not lost their interest in the ques- 

 tions of geology coming before it, nor their desire to sustain it in its pristine 

 vigor as one of the most prominent sections of the American Association. 



And now, gentlemen, there is no need of my proceeding farther with 

 this historical narration. I thought it proper to say something of it, believ- 

 ing that many of the younger members may not have given sufficient atten- 

 tion to the matter, and that it might be interesting to them to hear something 

 of our origin and history and the manner in which we began our work 

 nearly fifty years ago. At that time our entire Paleozoic series, in all its 

 grandeur, remained, in the minds of most persons, a chaotic mass, almost 

 without a recognized term to designate any of its members and entirely 

 without any accepted nomenclature for the whole. 



Professor James D. Dana then read a paper entitled: 



\l:l \- OF CONTINENTAL PROGRESS IN NORTH AMERICA, AND THE IN- 

 i ii EN( i. "i THE CONDITIONS OF THESE AREAS ON THE WORK CAR- 

 RIED FORWARD WITHIN THEM. 



Remarks upon Professor Dana's paper were made by .Mr. ( '. I). Walcotl 

 and Professor James Hall. The paper will be found appended to the pro- 

 ci edings of this meeting. 



