No. 2.] MISCELLANEOUS. 125 



their own tongue seemed most couveiiientiy to lepreseut this 

 smallest defined term. The Time-words were, in descending 

 order of magnitude — Era, Period, Epoch, Age — Era correspon- 

 ding to Group, Period to System, Epoch to Series, Age to St;igc. 

 It was pointed out tiiat the German and English use of the word 

 formation lor a set of deposits whicli it was desired to group 

 together under one head, e.g. Caiboniferous formation, could 

 not be adupted by the French, with whom this word always had 

 referen.e to the origin of the mass, and was considered an ab- 

 breviation of the mode of for mat ion. This had been already 

 fully recognized by the English Committee, in the minutes of 

 one of the meetings of which the following resolution appears: — 

 " The term Formation having been used by Continental geolo- 

 gists to denote the action by which a tiling is formed, and its 

 mode of formation, and its use in the sense accepted in England 

 being given up in America, the Committee recommend that the 

 term be employed as rarely as possible in the English sense, and 

 that such words as group, rock, bed, &c., be substituted for it." 

 It was pointed out by the German geologists that there were 

 many nations who could not adopt ''terrain," and therefore this 

 word was also excluded from the more strictly defined terms. 

 MiM. Beyricli and Von Moeller explained that tlie word series 

 could not be conveniently introduced into German or Russian, 

 and it was therefore agreed that the words section and Abfhtilang 

 should be admitted as synonyms of series. It will be observed 

 that there is a consistency in the group of words adopted in 

 English, they are all wiiat may be called synthetic; the analytic 

 words such as division, subdivision, .section, &c. remain unde- 

 Uned. 



He regretted that they were not able to transpose the words 

 Group and Series, as it certainly would be more convenient to 

 to use series for the large)-, and group lor the snidller division ; 

 but it was not a matter of great importance. 



In the course of the discussion, various speakers pointed out, 

 by way of illustration, what they would include under these 

 heads, and it was clear that there was very much to be done 

 before any equivalent value could be attached to the subdivisions 

 of diflFerent ages, or of the same general age, in widely separated 

 areas. 



The English Committee had commenced work upon this 

 question, and he had laid before the Congress the Reports of tlie 

 Sub-committees which had furnished him w^ith the results of 



