104 EDITORIAL 
which will one day be interpreted, a record of its pulsations and 
its flutterings, as well as of that slow but mighty working [the 
secular variation | which warns us that we must not suppose that 
the inner history of our planet IsvemGdedey 
' The first number of the journal contains several articles of 
weighty interest to geologists. — 
TGs Ce 
THE Geological Society of America held its eighth annual 
meeting in Philadelphia on the 26th, 27th and 28th of December, 
under the presidency of Professor N. S.Shaler. The attendance 
was large, embracing a considerable proportion of the geologists 
‘residing east of the Mississippi River. Professor Joseph Le 
Conte was elected president for the ensuing year, and Professors 
C. H. Hitchcock and Edward Orton, vice-presidents. The sec- 
retary, treasurer and editor, Messrs. Fairchild, White and Stan- 
ley-Brown, respectively, were reélected. Proressors Wilke 
Brooks, of Baltimore, and W. H. Norton, of Mount Vernon, 
Iowa,and Messrs. H. F. Bain, Des Moines, Iowa, C. R. Eastman, 
Cambiridee, Mass. iB. eKinmandelledlirenton Nes) peice Naylor 
Fort Wayne, Ind., and J. B. Woodworth, Cambridge, Mass., 
were elected fellows of the society. On the evening of the 27th, 
Professor Scott, of Princeton, gave a public lecture on the Terti- 
ary Lakes of the West. The presidential address of Professor 
Shaler on The relations of geologic science to education, was delivered 
on the morning of the 27th. Papers were presented in the regu- 
lar sessions by the following members: J. F. Kemp, N. S. 
Shaler, VW. Me Davis, Ve Pinsson, Pe Gulliver. Meake Camip- 
bell, N. H. Darton, C. R. Van Hise, Robert Bell, Alfred ©. Lane; 
Harry Fielding Reid, Frank Leverett, G. Frederick Wright, H. 
i Hamenild andy de ishitchcocki vl though othermenames 
appeared on the printed programme, their papers were not read 
Abstracts of some of these papers appear in this number of the 
JournaL. The papers covered a wide range of subjects. While 
many of them were of much interest, few of them provoked 
