'NWS 



THE X^ 



AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 



[FOURTH SERIES.] 



Art. I. — Present Tendencies in Paleontology;* by 

 Edward W. Berry. 



Wlien a few days ago your president asked me to take 

 part in the meeting to-night I felt bound to accede for 

 friendship's sake, rather than because of any message I 

 had to deliver. On the eve of my departure from the 

 country I have had no time to formulate and marshal 

 what few ideas I have on the subject. Your president in 

 his wisdom must have had a motive, otherwise why call in 

 an Antony when Washington is full of Brutuses. Rec- 

 ognizing as I do certain iconoclastic temperamental trends 

 in myself, I suspect that he may expect that I will lay 

 about me lustily in an endeavor to crack a few heads, and 

 in the words of the poet "stir up the animals." I am 

 resolved, however, to overflow with the milk of human 

 kindness, and to shed sweetness if not light upon the 

 subject. 



One is embarrassed to decide whether to attempt the 

 difficult role of historian of present tendencies where 

 there is such grave danger of not seeing the forest 

 because of the trees ; to take the allotted time in criticism 

 of past and present accomplishments in paleontology, or 

 in an endeavor to sketch the things hoped for in the 

 golden era of the future. 



The normal course of events has been so muddled by 

 world conditions during the past few years that it is diffi- 

 cult, nay impossible, to discern with any clarity the 

 present trend in paleontologic research. If I were asked 

 to state the tendencies as they appeared to me prior to 

 1914, I could do no better than sketch certain trends that 



* Address read before the April meeting of the Geological Society of 

 Washington. 



Am. Jour. Sci.— Fourth Series, Vol. XL VIII, No. 283.— July, 1919. 

 1 



