92 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 290 



compound matter; but the extension of the doctrine to the genesis 

 of the elements is a pure speculation, and bids fair at present to be 

 incapable of absolute proof. 



ON THE INTERNATIONAL GEOLOGICAL CONGRESS, 

 AND OUR PART IN IT AS AMERICAN GEOLO- 

 GISTS." 



This association, at the meeting in Buffalo in 1876, appointed a 

 committee to consider the propriety of holding an international 

 ■congress of geologists at Paris during the international exhibition of 

 1878, for the settling of obscure points relating to geological classi- 

 fication and nomenclature. 



Through the efforts and influence of this committee a congress 

 was held in Paris in 1878, at which representatives from this coun- 

 try and from almost all the countries of Europe were present, and 

 the business of the congress as indicated above was fairly begun. 

 A second meeting was held at Bologna. Italy, in 1881 ; a third at 

 Berlin in 1885, at which some progress was made ; a fourth meet- 

 ing is to be held in London in September of this year, and it is to 

 be presumed that further progress will be made in the two impor- 

 tant subjects before it, — classification and nomenclature. 



But a meeting of the congress must be held in this country, and 

 American geology must be fully represented, before any conclu- 

 sions can be reached which will be accepted by the scientific world. 

 At the meeting in London an effort will be made to have the next 

 meeting, that of 1891, held in this country. There is good reason 

 to ask that a meeting be held here before the discussions on the 

 important topics under consideration are closed. We think our 

 field of observation an important one, better than that of any of the 

 countries of Europe, and perhaps better than all combined. This 

 was the opinion of the older geologists ; and such, too, is the opin- 

 ion of many active geologists of the present day. Therefore we 

 may look for the geological congress here three years from this time. 



With this early notice of what is expected of us, it becomes us 

 to make our preparations to show what we have done in geography 

 and geology, and to enforce their claims to acceptance, as part of 

 the material to be used in providing for uniform classification and- 

 names. As a profitable way of beginning our work, we inquire 

 what are the points in each of these sciences which are settled, and 

 what still remain to be worked out. 



The foundation of all geological work is a good, reliable map of 

 the country. Our country has greatly suffered from an inaccurate 

 knowledge and description of our boundaries, in the north-east as 

 well as in the south. Similar difficulties were encountered by the 

 inaccuracy of surveys of State boundaries and land grants. It is 

 true, these are not the points of interest in our association ; but 

 they furnish most potent reasons for making accurate maps, and 

 they cause the supplies to be granted for making such maps. Good 

 work in this line has been done by the Coast and Geodetic Survey 

 and several other institutions, and its prosecution should be 

 urged as rapidly as possible. But attention must be paid also to 

 the topographic features, which are of equal value to the engineer, 

 the farmer, the business-man, and the geologist. 



The United States Geological Survey began systematic topo- 

 graphic work several years since, and it is now in progress in dif- 

 ferent sections of the United States. The maps are being en- 

 graved in the best manner, and issued as fast as they are com- 

 pleted. 



We are far behind the countries of Europe in respect to maps 

 of the whole country ; but it is believed that our later maps will 

 not suffer in comparison with the best of those of foreign lands, 

 and, from some experience in directing such surveys, I feel warranted 

 in saying that no public expense incurred in carrying on scientific 

 explorations meets with such hearty recognition and approval as 

 that for making and publishing such information in regard to the 

 topographic features of the country in which we reside or travel. 

 To us, however, geography is of most interest, because the forms 

 and features of the earth's surface furnish a guide to direct us in 

 our geological studies, and a means of recording their results with 

 accuracy and clearness. 



1 Abstract of an address before the Section of Geology and Geography of 

 -the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at Cleveland, O., Aug. 



8, by George II. Cook, vie 



t of the section. 



Geology, which treats of the structure of the whole earth, and 

 which includes in its domain facts ascertained and principles de- 

 duced from all its parts, was first systematized from a very limited 

 portion of the globe. It is not surprising that a system arranged 

 consistently with the facts in a single country should not be com- 

 prehensive enough to meet the circumstances of all others. Ameri- 

 can geologists began by transferring the German, English, and 

 French systems to this country. It took little time to find they did 

 not fit the circumstances here ; but, with that reverence for author- 

 ity which is due from the younger to the older, we have been trying 

 to make our geology conform to theirs. The effort is only partially 

 successful, and we have to admit that something larger and more 

 far-reaching must be devised before the science can be called a 

 general one, applicable in all places. 



It was probably some clear perception of this want in the science 

 which led our fellow-members to move for an international con- 

 gress of geologists, and now it is our part to see where the defi- 

 ciency lies, and to do what we can to make preparations for supply- 

 ing it. 



The time is very short since geology was first studied in any sys- 

 tematic way in this country, and the advances have been rapid and 

 large. From the time of Maclure's ' Observations on the Geology 

 of the United States of America,' begun in 1809, and the establish- 

 ment of Silliman's American Journal of Science and Arts, the 

 growth of American geology has been rapid and plainly marked. 

 The: A?nerican JoiirnaliiseM continues to be a repository of the 

 advances of geological science. The Academy of Natural Sciences 

 began the publication of geological papers the same year. During 

 the ensuing twenty-three years, numerous surveys and reports were 

 made, and the progress of geology was rapid. 



On April 2, 1840, a meeting was held in Philadelphia, and the 

 American Association of Geologists and Naturalists was organized. 

 Of the eighteen present, thirteen or fourteen were geologists fresh 

 from the field. The proceedings of the meeting, which was con- 

 tinued through a second and third day, are of interest to us as 

 showing the problems which occupied them, something of the ques- 

 tions then settled, and of those on which they sought information 

 and advice. Professor Hitchcock exhibited specimens of ' fossil 

 footmarks so called,' and the association appointed a committee to 

 visit the localities, and to report at the next meeting. The subject 

 of diluvial action was discussed at this and the subsequent meet- 

 ings. 



Meetings were held by the association in the successive years, 

 1841 to 1847 inclusive, and it was then resolved into the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, the first meeting of 

 which was in 1848. The Section of Geography and Geology, now 

 Section E of the American Association, is the representative of the 

 society organized by American geologists to collate the individual 

 work of each other, and to bring them into harmony of succession 

 and name. It has already done -much, and has reached the position 

 from which it is prepared to do much more. 



Many and perplexing questions have arisen in the progress of 

 geology, some of which have taxed the powers of our ablest men. 

 By continued efforts they are being solved. The Taconic question, 

 the triassic formation of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the States 

 farther south, the place of the American trias in the geological column, 

 and other problems, received due attention at the meetings of the 

 association. Some of these vexed questions were solved ; in others 

 considerable progress was made. 



In the International Geological Congress the two topics for ex- 

 amination, and, if possible, for agreement, are the general system of 

 nomenclature, and the colors to be used in making geological maps. 

 It is, however, perfectly obvious, that, before agreeing on names to 

 be used, the objects to be named must first be agreed upon ; and 

 it is evidently from the lack of completeness in the geological col- 

 umn in any single country where the geology has been well studied 

 and described that the first difficulty arises. The order of succes- 

 sion of the rocks has been published, and names have been given 

 to them ; and, now that these have been in use, it is difficult to so 

 change them as to make them a part of a scheme that shall be of 

 universal application. It was this end which our association aimed 

 at in their resolution passed in 1876 ; and, while progress has been 

 made in the work at each meeting since held by the congress, it is 



