Maech 31, 1899. J 



SCIENCE. 



491 



extent. Geological literature is of too great 

 bulk for ttie working geologist to attempt to 

 ascertain wliether or not names which he jsro- 

 poses to use have been preoccupied. To illus- 

 ti'ate what the present system is leading to, a 

 few instances of some prominence will be cited. 



In 1SS3 Hague described, in a report of the 

 U. S. Geological Survey, the Eureka quartzite, 

 a sub-division of the Silurian, in the Eureka 

 district, Nevada. In 1891 Simonds and Hop- 

 kins, in a report of the Arkansas Geological 

 Survey, used the name Eureka shale for a sup- 

 posed Devonian horizon ; while in 1898 Haworth, 

 in a report of the Kansas Geological Survey, 

 proposes the name Eureka limestone as a sub- 

 division of the Coal Measures. 



In 1879 Peale, in the 11th Annual Report of 

 the U. S. Geological and Geographical Survey 

 of the Territories, employed the term Cache 

 Valley Group for a sub-division of the Pleisto- 

 cene of Utah. Becker described, in 1888, the 

 Cache Lake beds of California, in Monograph 

 XIII of the U. S. Geological Survey, and re- 

 ferred them to the Tertiary. In 1896 G. M. 

 Dawson, in a report of the Canada Geological 

 Survey, uses the name Cache Creek formation 

 for an horizon of the Carboniferous to include 

 strata described by Selwyn in 1872 as Upper 

 and Lower Cache Creek beds. 



In 1842-46 Emmons, Vanuxem and Mather 

 employed, the term Erie division as a sub-divi- 

 sion of the New Y.ork system. In the Ohio 

 Geological Survey reports, the Erie clay was 

 used as a sub-division of the Pleistocene, and 

 Erie shale was referred both to the Carbonif- 

 erous and Devonian. In 1875 Lesley described, 

 in a report of the Pennsylvania Geological Sur- 

 vey, the Erie shale, which he referred to the 

 Silurian. In 1898 Haworth described the Erie 

 limestone of the Coal Measures of Kansas. The 

 above references are given merely to illustrate 

 the confusion that is likely to arise from use of 

 new geographic terms if the literature is not 

 carefully examined for previous use. 



For the past eighteen months the writer has 

 been engaged in preparing a card catalogue of 

 geologic formation names, during such time as 

 could be taken from other office and field work. 

 This catalogue has already assumed consider- 

 able proportions, and is now being consulted by 



those geologists who are aware that such a 

 work is being prosecuted. While preparing 

 the annual bibliography of geological literature 

 for 1898 the writer has found several instances 

 of duplication of names that have become well 

 established in geologic nomenclature. It will 

 probably be a year or more before this cata- 

 logue can be published, and, in the meantime, 

 to assist in avoiding such duplication, the 

 writer oilers to furnish geologists who will 

 correspond with him such information as he 

 possesses regarding names which they propose 

 to use as formation names. 



F. B. Weeks. 

 U. S. Geological Survey, 



Washington, D. C. 



the berlin tuberculosis congress.* 

 The German Central Committee for the erec- 

 tion of Sanitaria for Consumptives have issued 

 a call for a Congress to be held in Berlin, Ger- 

 many, May 24-27, 1899, for the purpose of dis- 

 cussing the subject of tuberculosis. The Con- 

 gress will meet in the new building of the 

 Imperial Diet and is under the patronage of 

 Her Majesty, The Kaiserin, while Prince Hohen- 

 lohe, the Imperial Chancellor, will serve as 

 Honorary President. All of the German States, 

 also local authorities, medical faculties and so- 

 cieties, and all corporations interested in fight- 

 ing tuberculosis, have been requested to send 

 delegates, and all foreign countries represented 

 at the Imperial Court have also been invited to 

 take part. The United States Embassy has 

 been requested to extend a cordial invitation to 

 American physicians to become members of the 

 Congress, and the same invitation has been ex- 

 tended through other missions to physicians of 

 other nationalities. 



As a basis for discussion papers will be pre- 

 sented as follows : (1) ' Distribution and ex- 

 tent of tuberculosis ' by Geheimrath Kpehler, 

 Director of the Imperial Health Office, and 

 Geheimrath Krieger, of Strassburg ; (2) ' Eti- 

 ology,' by Professors Robert Koch and B. 

 Fraenkel, of Berlin ; (3) ' Prophylaxis,' by Pro- 

 * Written at tlie request of Dr. Pannwitz, General 

 Secretary of the Congress, and forwarded simulta- 

 neously to several American journals. The medical, 

 veterinarian and scientific press is requested to call 

 the attention of its readers to this Congress. 



