334 A SYMPOSIUM 



an international congress. Quite aside from doubts connected 

 with such an enacting body, there are those who question whether 

 we have reached that stage in the development of interpreta- 

 tions and correlations which warrants the formal adoption of a 

 universal system of classification and nomenclature. Fully sym- 

 pathizing with both these classes, we none the less feel that these 

 considerations only emphasize the importance of those prelim- 

 inary and tentative efforts through whose agency a satisfactory 

 system is to be worked out in time by the method of concerted 

 trial and continued rectification. Especially does it seem impor- 

 tant to proceed as fast as may be with the evolution of a system 

 appropriate to our own continent as a preliminary to the estab- 

 lishment of an intercontinental system. 



Certain phases of a system of nomenclature involve little 

 more than a choice of terms. To this extent only a consensus 

 of preference is needed to inaugurate a common practice which 

 shall become conventional. In most cases, however, the choice 

 of terms is connected with a choice of ideas, and a consensus is 

 less readily reached. Whether a community of preference can 

 now be reached or not, it can scarcely be questioned that we 

 should work toward such a community, if possible, rather than 

 away from it. We appear to have been receding from uniformity, 

 rather than approaching it, for the past two decades. The result 

 is a disturbed practice and a confusion of terms infelicitous alike 

 to geologist, to teacher, and to student. 



The more important phase of the question lies back of the 

 selection of terms and relates to the questions : What divisions, 

 or what order of divisions, shall be chosen for formal nomencla- 

 ture, and upon what criteria shall the divisions be determined ? 

 Granting that these questions cannot be answered finally at 

 present, or in the near future, it is still urgent to inquire : By the 

 use of what system, provisionally adopted for current use, can 

 we best work on toward better systems in the future ? 



To draw out opinion on the subject, a series of questions 

 was prepared by one of the editors of this Journal (Professor 

 Salisbury) and submitted to several American geologists with a 



