Editorial. 



The success of the recent meeting of the Geological Society 

 of America was undoubtedly due to the fact that it was held in 

 Washington. No other city in the country offers so many 

 attractions to geologists in the winter time as the national 

 capital. Containing as it does the largest body of geological 

 investigators to be found in any one place in the world, it has 

 become a center of geological activity and the repository of 

 many valuable collections. Located within easy reach of the 

 universities of the East and South and of the Middle West it has 

 become a favorite rendezvous for geologists scattered through- 

 out these parts of the country. For these reasons the sugges- 

 tion made by Mr. Walcott, Director of the United States 

 Geological Survey, that the society hold all its winter meetings 

 in Washington and its summer meetings elsewhere, is an excellent 

 one, and was heartily endorsed by the retiring president. Pro- 

 fessor Le Conte. Since the present method of entertaining the 

 society would prove a burden upon the Washington members if 

 repeated annually, it would be proper to allow the visiting 

 members to share the expense by dividing W\q co?,l per capita. 

 It is to be hoped that the proposition to meet annually in 

 Washington be considered seriously by the society. 



The necessity of more expeditious methods of conducting 

 the presentation of papers and the need of a livelier sense of 

 obligation to fellow-members on the part of those misusing the 

 time of the meeting were apparent. It ought not to require 

 lono- reflection to convince one that beyond a reasonable use of 

 time the tax on the patience of an audience defeats the object 

 of an address, and is more than a waste of energy. 



It is to be noted that the present unsatisfactory process of 



