EDITORIAI. 195 



various educational centers on the Atlantic coast between the 

 Merrimac and the Potomac. 



Without wishing to detract in the least from the debt of 

 gratitude due the local committee which arranged for our con- 

 venience and comfort during the last Washington meeting, I 

 wish to suggest that the lecture room of the National Museum 

 is, in many ways, objectionable as a place in which to hold the 

 sessions of the Geological Society. If the society elects to hold 

 all winter meetings in Washington, a more suitable assembly 

 room, and also rooms for the display of maps, collections, etc., 

 as well as a conversation room, should be provided. 



In reference to the expenses of the meetings being shared by 

 the visiting members, as proposed by Professor Iddings in case 

 the winter meetings are held regularly in Washington , it may 

 be suggested that if each of the Washington members should 

 subscribe an amount equal to the average traveling expenses of 

 the visiting members, the expenses of the meeting could not 

 only be met but a surplus would remain which might be devoted 

 to publication or other useful purposes. I. C. R. 



* , * 

 * 



It is gratifying to be able to call attention to the carefully 

 made collections of rock specimens, which Mr. Oscar Rohn, 

 of Madison, Wis., has prepared to illustrate the petrographical 

 descriptions found in the writings of Pumpelly, Marvine, Irving, 

 Van Hise, and Bayley, upon the famous mineral-bearing dis- 

 tricts in the Lake Superior region. As is well known, collections 

 of rocks representing the most important petrographical types at 

 European localities may be obtained for purposes of study and 

 instruction. But no systematic attempt has been made to fur- 

 nish collections of t^^pical rocks from American localities, with 

 the exception of the proposed Educational Series which the 

 United States Geological Survey has undertaken to gather 

 together. A reason for this is in some cases evident, namely, 

 the remoteness of the districts and the expense of collecting the 

 specimens. The collection of Lake Superior rocks offered for 

 sale by Mr. Rohn is a step in the direction of such systematic 



