October 4, 1900] 



NA TURE 



557 



lens have invariably been costly and heavy, and the Kodak 

 Company have made quite a new departure in cameras in 

 designing one that is light and cheap, and rapid enough in 

 action to serve as a hand camera. The sample shown is called 

 the "No I Panoram Kodak," from which we suppose that 

 larger cameras of the same pattern will be issued in due course. 

 It gives a picture seven inches long with a lens of about three and 

 a half inches focal length. Film is used, and the drawing of 

 it over the curved guides, to bring a new piece into position, 

 is no more difficult than changing the film in any of the other 

 "kodaks. It has no shutter as usually understood, but the lens 

 with its cone behind it swings beyond the sensitive surface and 

 past a little flap, so that in its position of rest light cannot pass 

 through the lens to the film. The apparatus is very ingeniously 

 constructed, simple and effective. 



There are many other exhibits of technical interest that 

 might be noticed in detail, particularly, perhaps, photographs 

 of living creatures of all kinds ; but to enumerate them would 

 be to reproduce a considerable portion of the catalogue. Many 

 are evidence of the great skill and perseverance of the exhibitors. 

 Some fine examples of photogravure show this process at its 

 best. Some photogravures in colour, by Messrs. Ignatz Herbst 

 and Theodore Reichs, show what can be done by a single 

 printing after the various colours have been applied to the plate 

 by the hand of one or more artists. 



The exhibition is open daily until November 3. 



THE INTERNATIONAL GEOLOGICAL 

 CONGRESS. 

 'X'HE eighth International Geological Congress was held this 

 -^ year in France. The work of the Congress consisted of 

 papers read at the meetings at Paris, which were followed by 

 discussions, and by excursions into difi"erent parts of the country, 

 conducted by French geologists. 



The meetings of the Congress took place from August 10-27 

 at the Palais des Congres, within the enclosure of the Inter- 

 national Exhibition. 



The inauguration was held on Friday, August 16, under the 

 presidency of M. Leygues, Minister of Public Instruction and 

 the Fine Arts. M. Karpinsky, president of the last session of 

 the Congress at St. Petersburg, gave an address ; he then read 

 the following list of the members of the Committee, proposed by 

 the Council : — Ex-presidents, MM. Capellini and Karpinsky. 

 President, M. Albert Gaudry. General secretary, M. Charles Bar- 

 rois. \'ice-presidents — Germany : MM. H. Credner, Lepsius, 

 Schmeisser, Zirkel, von Zittel. Austria and Hungary : MM. 

 Biickh, Mojsisovics of Mojsvar,Tietze. Belgium : MM.Mourlon, 

 Renard. Bulgaria : M. Zlatarski. Canada : Dr. Frank Adams. 

 United States : Messrs. Hague, Osborn, Stevenson. France : 

 M.M. Michel-Levy, Marcel Bertrand. Great Britain : Sir 

 Archibald Geikie, Sir John Evans. India : Dr. Blanford. 

 Italy : MM. Cocchi, Mattirolo. Japan : M. Kochibe. Mexico : 

 M. Aguilera. Norway : Dr. Brogger. The Netherlands : M. 

 Martin. Portugal : MM. Choffat, Mende>-Guerreiro. Rou- 

 mania : M. G. Stefanescu. Russia : MM. Loewinson-Lessing, 

 A. P. Pavlow, Sederholm, Tschernyschew. Sweden : M. Hog- 

 bom. Switzerland : MM. Baltzer, C. Schmidt, Secretaries : 

 MM. Zimmermann, W. Pavlow, von Arthaber, Gilbert, Crema, 

 Cayeux, Thevenin, Thomas. Treasurer : M. Leon Carez. 

 This list was voted with applause. 



M. Albert Gaudry, the new president, then read the inaugural 

 address. In the warmest terms the eminent geologist welcomed 

 the assembly of scientific men who had come from all parts of 

 the world, and then proposed that they should rise to show 

 honour to the memory of the learned geologists who had passed 

 away since the last Congress. The president referred to the 

 principal propositions submitted during the preceding sessions, 

 and enumerated the four sections of the present Congress : — 

 I. Section of general and tectonic geology. 

 II. Section of stratigraphy and palaeontology. 



III. Section of mineralogy and petrography. 



IV. Section of applied geology and hydrology. 



M. Charles Barrois, general secretary, read his report on the 

 work of the Committee of Organi.sation. M. Leygues, Minister 

 of Public Instruction and the Fine Arts, welcomed the foreign 

 members of the Congress in the name of the Government. 



Section I. (General and Tectonic Geology). President : Sir 

 Archibald Geikie. 



NO. 16 14. VOL. 62] 



Papers :— Presidential Address on international co-operation 

 in geological investigation ; Chamberlin, the assistance of the 

 Congress in the fundamental investigations of geology ; J. Joly, 

 the geological age of the earth fixed by the amount of sodium 

 in the sea ; on the experiments relative to erosion In fresh 

 water and salt water ; order of the formation of silicates in 

 igneous rocks ; mechanical structure of marine sedimentation ; 

 A. de Lapparent, definition for each of the periods of the history 

 of the globe, of the regions where by preference arguments 

 should be sought on which the precise delimitation of the 

 geological strata and substrata could be founded ; Mtinier- 

 Chalmas, Parisian Tertiary strata, delimitation of the Secondary 

 and Tertiary formations ; Stanislas- Meiinier, phenomena of 

 subterranean sedimentation ; Bleicher, denudation of the 

 Lorraine plateau and its results ; Richter, reading of the 

 report of the Commission on Glaciers ; H. F. Reid, on the 

 movements of glaciers ; Arctowski, remarks relating to the 

 former extent of glaciers in the land regions discovered by the 

 Belgian Antarctic expedition ; /V/^«V/-.^a/2<'^, presentation of 

 the new geological map of Roumania on the scale of 1/300,000 ; 

 Voriveg, proposition tending to simplify the observation of the 

 inclination and strike of the strata; V Abbe /'ara/, geological 

 observations in the caves of La Cure (Morvan). 



Section II. (Stratigraphy and Palaeontology). President : 

 Dr. von Zittel. Discussion on the report of the International 

 Commission on Stratigraphic Classification. 



Papers : — Scott, fauna of Patagonia ; Raiilin, Tertiary dis- 

 tricts of Aquitania ; C. Eg. Bertrand, charbons gelosiques et 

 charbons humiques ; Grand'' Eury,{oxm.2X\on of coal-seams in 

 the coal basins of Central France ; Leiniere, transformation of 

 vegetables into fossil fuel ; Osborn, progress of the methods 

 of palaeontology ; relations between the mammal fauna and 

 the Tertiary horizons of Europe and America ; E. Ficheur, 

 presentation of the third edition of the geological map of 

 Algeria on the scale of 1/800,000; Flamatid, on the geology 

 of the south of Algeria and the regions of the Sahara ; 

 Donvilli, on the Jurassic formation of Madagascar ; on the 

 results of the exploration of M. de Morgan in Persia ; Zeiller, 

 fossil plants of Tonquin ; Malaise, the Cambrian and Silurian of 

 Belgium ; Dr. P. CEhlert, on the reproduction of fossil types ; 

 W. F. Hume, the rift valleys of Sinai ; T. Barrow and W. F. 

 Hume, on the geology of the eastern desert of Egypt. 



Section III. (Mineralogy and Petrography). President : 

 Dr. Zirkel. Honorary Presidents : MM, Rosenbusch and 

 Fouque. 



M. Lacroix announced the views adopted by the Inter- 

 national Commission of Petrography in its meetings of October 

 25 and 26, 1899. 



The following proposals were adopted by the Assembly : — 



( 1 ) The names of the authors should always be given after the 

 names of the rocks, as is the custom in zoology and botany. 



(2) It is proposed to the Congress of 1900 to appoint an Inter- 

 national Commission charged to publish the names of all new 

 rocks with their descriptions as concisely as possible, with also 

 their chemical analysis and, if necessary, a drawing representing 

 their structure. This publication is to appear in the volume 

 of the reports of the International Congresses. 



(3) It is, above all, desirable to regulate the nomenclature of 

 the eruptive rocks, where the want of unity is particularly felt. 

 Different authors attribute a different sense and signification to 

 one and the same name, while different terms are employed to 

 designate the same rock, the .^ame group of rocks, or the same 

 structure. All the inconveniences of the present nomenclature 

 can, and should be, avoided, at least for the large groups. 



(4) The characteristics of the large groups, for example, of 

 the families should be founded on the mineralogical composi- 

 tion, supported by the chemical composition and the structure. 



(5) The large groups ought to be fixed from the present 

 without disturbing the subsequent development of the classifica- 

 tion, and the separation of these groups into subdivisions. 



(6) It is desirable to designate the principal types of structure 

 by special names. 



(7) It is necessary to avoid the employment of the same term 

 in different senses, 



(8) One should avoid as much as possible the employment 

 and introduction of different terms to designate the same notion, 

 the same rock, or the same group of rocks. 



(9) It is necessary to avoid as much as possible for new types 

 of rocks the employment of pre-existing names, and assigning to 

 them a new sense, or restricting or enlarging their meaning. 



