I 1 4 EDITORIAL 



with a high barometer. (Egleston Thomas, Trans. Am. Soc. 

 Civil Engineers, Vol. XV, p. 650, New York, 1886.) H. F. B. 



* 

 The attendance at the Montreal meeting of the Geological 

 Society of America was small, but the session was both pleas- 

 ant and profitable. The hospitality of the people of Montreal, 

 always cordial, was notable for its warm-heartedness. The 

 interest and importance of the papers compared very favorably 

 with those of the preceding sessions, and in several notable 

 instances possessed peculiar interest. The presidential address 

 of Dr. Orton was an admirable exposition of the theoretical 

 aspects of petroleum and was made attractive not less by the 

 charm of its manner than by the judiciousness of its matter. 

 The pleistocene papers as usual led in number, but the prepon- 

 derance was but slight. The penological papers followed them 

 closely in number and perhaps surpassed them in fullness and in 

 the labor of preparation. Two of them were especially notable 

 for their careful elaboration. It was gratifying to observe a rela- 

 tive increase in palaeontological papers. It has been a source 

 of deep regret to many American geologists that palaeontologists 

 have in recent years so largely drifted in the direction of phy- 

 logeny (important as that is) and that the study of faunas and 

 floras as such and as factors in the history of the earth has not 

 found larger expression in the papers of the Geological Society. 

 The evolution and migration of faunas and floras is compa- 

 rable if not superior in importance and interest to the evo- 

 lution of species and families, and merits an ample share of 

 palaeontological effort. Papers upon regional geology, which 

 have always constituted a notable proportion of the programme, 

 held a fair place at the Montreal meeting. The dynamical 

 papers were few, but the peculiar interest which attached to the 

 experiments of Dr. Adams on the flow of rocks under pressure 

 made full atonement for the scantiness of their numbers. 

 The important paper of Professor Van Hise on "Shortening of 

 the Outer Part of the Earth" was read by title only. Physio- 

 graphical papers which have sometimes occupied a prominent 



