EDITORIAL 269 



and technically interpreted, be observed for all time, however 

 infelicitous it may prove to be? 



These are questions upon which at present there are differences 

 of opinion. It seems altogether wise to keep them in a state 

 of agitation until geological opinion shall formulate itself on 

 mature and permanent grounds. We are passing from the 

 initial stages of our science, in which the discovery of forma- 

 tions, like the discovery of animal and plant species, has pre- 

 dominated, into a more mature stage, in which these elements 

 will lose their importance through the recognition of gradations, 

 of evolutions, and of those broader and profounder relationships 

 which will constitute the really important phases of the subject 

 to future students. It is fitting, therefore, that we should con- 

 sider whether the verbal lumber that may have had importance in 

 the initial stages shall be transmitted, without modification or 

 adaptive evolution, to the whole future of the science. To the 

 writer it seems, important to the future of the science that its 

 language should be developed along the lines of greatest service- 

 ability and esthetic merit. It seems, furthermore, quite possible 

 to give all due honor to the initial discoverer without injury to 

 the language of the science ; indeed, it would seem in some 

 instances that the initial discoverer would be honored by the 

 rejection or the modification of his unfortunate nomenclature. 

 Is it not within the limits of permissible practice to set aside an 

 unfortunate name and to substitute a new one, and at the same 

 time leave the credit of primal identification to the original 

 author ? It does not seem that priority of discovery and of 

 description is inseparably connected with priority of nomen- 

 clature. 



It is not the purpose of this note, nor the policy of the 

 Journal, to urge at once a decision in this special case or in 

 similar cases, but rather to urge that the question of nomen- 

 clature be kept open and be the subject of thoughtful study 

 until all of the considerations that should enter into the forma- 

 tion of the language of the science have been brought forth 

 into distinct recognition and have been duly pondered. After 



