REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 17 



of Assyriology up to 1900, which is being prepared by Dr. Cyrus 

 Adler, of the Smithsonian Institution. 



The Secretary was in July, 1897, appointed delegate of the United 

 States to the Seventh International Geological Congress, at St. Peters- 

 burg, Eussia, during the first week of September. Other delegates 

 from this country were Prof. George P. Merrill, of the National 

 Museum, Eollin D. Salisbury, of New Jersey, and Charles E. Keys, of 

 Missouri, these names being announced by the Institution to the 

 Secretary of State, by whom the appointments were directly certified. 



The special subjects under consideration related to stratigraphic and 

 petrographic classification and nomenclature and the rules regarding 

 the introduction of new terms into stratigraphic nomenclature. The 

 congress will always remain memorable on account of the number and 

 extent of the excursions offered the visiting geologists and the hospi- 

 tality with which they were everywhere greeted. The excursions 

 before the congress were: (1) to the Urals and Western Siberia; (2) to 

 Esthonia, and (3) to Finland, and, after the congress, to the Caucasus 

 by any one of three routes; thence to Titlis, Baku, and Bato'um, with 

 side trips to Ararat, Mount Elbrous,the Crimea, and other less important 

 points. The registration for the congress was unusually large, num- 

 bering some 850 signatures, of whom upward of GOO were actually in 

 attendance either at the meeting in St. Petersburg or on some of the 

 excursions. The next congress is to be held in Paris in 1900. 



The Secretary presented to tbe Department of State the names of 

 Dr. C. W. Stiles and Prof. E. L. Mark, and they were appointed dele- 

 gates to the Congress of Zoology to be held at Cambridge, England. 



The Secretary and Dr. Cyrus Adler were in June, 1898, appointed as 

 delegates of the United States to a conference to be held in England 

 for further consideration of an international catalogue of scientific lit- 

 erature mentioned in the last report. 



EXPOSITIONS. 



In my report for 1897 I made a brief reference to the participation of 

 the Smithsonian Institution and its dependencies in the Tennessee 

 Centennial Exposition, which was opened on May 1, 1897. A descrip- 

 tion of the exhibits prepared for that occasion under the direction of 

 the Institution will be published in the Museum volume of this report. 



By direction of Congress the Smithsonian Institution and its various 

 bureaus have prepared exhibits for the Trans-Mississippi and Interna- 

 tional Exposition at Omaha, which opened on June 1, 1898. The sum 

 of $19,491.71 was allotted to the Institution out of a general appropria- 

 tion of $137,500 for the special exhibits of all the Executive Depart- 

 ments of the Government. A further allusion to this exposition will 

 be found in the Appendix, and a full statement will be published in 

 the report for 1899. 

 SM 98 2 



