146 



NA TURE 



\_ytine 16, 1887 



cause of the present condition of things, which is giving 

 rise to so many comments that we can no longer neglect 

 them is, we think, further evidenced by the arrange- 

 ments that have been made for the Jubilee ceremonial 

 in Westminster Abbey. The Lord Chamberlain and his 

 staff, who are responsible for these arrangements, have, 

 we are informed, invited only one Fellow of the Royal 

 Society, as such, to be present in the Abbey ; while with 

 regard to literature we believe not even this single ex- 

 ception has been made. It maybe an excellent thing 

 for men of science like Prof. Huxley, Prof. Adams, 

 and Dr. Joule, and such a man of literature as Mr. 

 Robert Browning, that they should not be required to 

 attend at such a ceremonial, but it is bad for the cere- 

 monial. The same system has been applied to the 

 Government officials themselves. Thus, the Department 

 responsible for Science and Art has, we believe, received 

 four tickets, while thirty-five have, according to Mr. 

 Plunket's statement in the House on Tuesday, been 

 distributed among the lower clerks in the House of 

 Commons. Her Gracious Majesty suffers when a cere- 

 monial is rendered not only ridiculous but contemptible 

 by such maladministration. England is not represented, 

 but only England's paid officials and nobodies. 



While we regret that there should be these notes of 

 discord in the present condition of affairs, there can be no 

 question that Her Majesty may be perfectly assured that 

 the most cultured of her subjects are among the most loyal 

 to her personally, and that they join with their fellow- 

 subjects in many lands in hoping that Her Majesty may 

 be long spared to reign over the magnificent Empire on 

 which the sun never sets, and the members of which 

 Science in' the future will link closer together than she 

 has been able to do in the past. 



IMPERIAL GEOLOGICAL UNION. 



NO one interested in geological science could fail to 

 be impressed with the evidence afforded by the 

 Colonial and Indian Exhibition, in its display of natural 

 products, in the conferences connected with it, and in the 

 number of scientific men collected from all parts of the 

 Empire, of the amount of geological work represented by 

 Great Britain and its dependencies, and the commanding 

 position of the Empire with reference to the geology of 

 the world. The same fact was apparent in the importance 

 attached to Colonial and Indian geology and geography 

 at the meeting of the British Association at Birmingham, 

 influenced by these facts, I was induced to speak some- 

 what strongly in the address which I had the honour of 

 delivering at Birmingham on the position of Britain and 

 its colonies and the English-speaking world in general 

 with reference to scientific progress. On my return to 

 Canada, and more particularly after the (temporary, as I 

 hope) failure of the project to hold a meeting of the 

 British Association neKt year in Australia, it seemed 

 desirable to give the matter some definite form ; and 

 after correspondence and consultation with friends, I was 

 induced, in February last, to address a -letter on the 

 subject to Prof. Stokes, the President of the Royal 

 Society. The reasons for this course were that both 

 Prof. Huxley and his successor in the Presidential chair 

 of the Royal Society had suggested an Imperial Scientific 

 Union, and the subject was understood to be under the 



consideration of the Council of the Society, which from 

 I its central and commanding position has a right to the 

 I initiative in any movement of this nature. In this letter 

 geological science is alone directly referred to, as being 

 that with which the writer is more immediately connected 

 and that which in some respects has already the best 

 organization ; but without excluding other departments of 

 science. Special reference is also made to Canada, as 

 affording an apt illustration of the extent and value of the 

 geological domain of the Empire. I need scarcely add 

 that the present year, distinguished as it is by many 

 movements in the direction of Imperial Union, in con- 

 nexion with its being the fiftieth year of the reign of 

 Her Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, seems especially 

 auspicious for such a project. The following are extracts 

 from the letter referred to 



"It is, I think, evident trom the report of the last 

 meeting of the International Congress of Geologists, 

 that great, if not insuperable, difficulties lie in the way of 

 any general agreement as to geological classification, 

 nomenclature, and mapping. These difficulties, however, 

 depend so largely on difference of language and of habits 

 of thought, that they would not affect a union for scientific 

 purposes on the part of the geologists of the British 

 Empire, and ultimately of all English-speaking countries. 

 It therefore appears that such a more limited union might 

 with advantage be undertaken in the first instance, and 

 with the view not of obstructing but of aiding the wider 

 movement. 



" The British Empire also possesses exceptional facili- 

 ties for taking the lead of other nations in so far as 

 geology and physical geography are concerned. The 

 British Islands, as is well known, are remarkable for the 

 great variety of their formations and the excellence of 

 their exposures, and much of the present classification 

 and methods of representation in geology has originated 

 in Great Britain, and has been adopted with slight varia- 

 tion in all English-speaking countries, and to a consider- 

 able extent in other countries as well. In Canada we 

 have the larger half of North America, and much of this 

 very satisfactorily explored. We have also the advantages 

 of the best exposures of the older crystalline rocks, of a 

 development of the Palaeozoic series in the Eastern 

 Provinces, more closely allied to that of Europe than to 

 that of the interior American plateau, and of Pleistocene 

 deposits so extensive and complete that they must ulti- 

 mately decide many of those questions of glacial geology 

 which have been so much agitated. In India, Australasia, 

 and South Africa, with the western districts of Canada 

 and various smaller dependencies, we hold a controlling 

 influence in the geology of the great Pacific and Indian 

 Ocean areas. Arctic and Antarctic geology and modern 

 oceanic deposits have been worked principally by English 

 observers, and English-speaking geologists have been and 

 are exploring in many countries not under the British 

 flag. More especially the large amount of geological 

 work done in the United States is based on English 

 methods, and is published and discussed in the English 

 language, and the most intimate and friendly relations 

 subsist between the geologists of the United States and 

 those of Great Britain and the colonies. 



"In these circumstances it would seem that a union of 

 British and English-speaking geologists might overcome 

 the difficulties which appear so formidable as between the 

 different European nations, and might lay a broad founda- 

 tion of geological fact, classification, nomenclature, and 

 representation, which would ultimately be adopted by 

 other countries as far as local diversities and differences 

 of language might permit. Such a geological union 

 would naturally be accompanied or followed by similar 

 co-operation in other departments of investigation in 

 natural science. 



I 



