October 30, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



377 



the collections and the objects sent to the con- 

 gress. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Satur- 

 day, sitting of the congress at 2 p.m. ; 7 p.m., 

 Satiu-day, close of the congress. Sunday, 9 A.M., 

 excursion to Potsdam. Then followed announce- 

 ments of the excursions to the Hartz, to Stassfurt, 

 etc. This programme was followed in the main, 

 only an extra session of the congress being inter- 

 calated. The usual course was to devote two hours 

 to the discussion of the committees' reports (2 to 4 

 P.M.), and the last two hours (4 to 6 p.m.) to scien- 

 tific discourses of various delegates. 



The weather during the entire week was very 

 disagreeable, cold and rainy. On Sunday morn- 

 ing, after the close of the congress, it promised to 

 be fair, but only to deceive the hopes of those who 

 took part in the Potsdam excursion. The com- 

 mencement of the trip was very beautiful, but 

 towards the close it degenerated into a procession 

 of dripping and shivering people, who tried to look 

 as if it were pleasant in order not to offend their 

 kind hosts. 



The language of the congress had been decided 

 upon as French ; and this, no doubt, accounts for 

 the greater share taken by the Swiss, Belgians, 

 and French in the debates, than by the people of 

 other nationalities. The Germans, for instance, 

 who outnumbered all other nationahties taken 

 together, had only one representative, who man- 

 aged the language with fluency, and led in debate, 

 — Hauchecorne, the active spirit of the congress. 

 It is true that Neumayr (an Austrian) did retort 

 very effectively once to M. Lapparent, and his 

 Excellency v. Dechen spoke frequently, if not 

 easily ; but Dr. Beyrich, the nominal president, 

 Tvas entirely unintelligible, and Stur was obhged 

 to get a dispensation from the congress and speak 

 in German. 



On Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. the first report 

 was given by M. Eenevier of Switzerland, the 

 secretary of the committee appointed to prepare 

 the European map, which was thus constituted : 

 Beyrich and Hauchecorne (forming the sub-com- 

 mittee of direction in Berlin), Germany ; Daubree, 

 France : Giordano, Italy ; de Moeller, Russia ; 

 Mojsisovics, Austria-Hungary ; Topley, Great-Brit- 

 ain ; Renevier (secretary general), Switzerland. 

 The committee of direction had made an arrange- 

 ment with D. Reimer & Co., of Berlin, according 

 to which this firm agreed to undertake the publi- 

 cation of the map at its owm risk, provided the 

 committee would guarantee them an edition of 

 900 copies, at 100 francs a copy, and would give 

 them sums on account in advance. 



The map is to consist of 49 sheets, 7 in breadth 

 and 7 in height. Each of these sheets is 48x53 

 cm., and the whole of them together wiU form a 



chart 3.36 metres high and 3.72 metres broad. 

 Prof. Kiepert of Berlin is to prepare the topo- 

 graphic base, using for this purpose all data at 

 his disposition, both published and unpublished. 

 Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Austro- 

 Hungary, Germany, Scandinavia, and Russia, 

 each takes 100 copies. The remaining 100 copies 

 are to be divided between the six smaller states, 

 Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Switzerland, Portu- 

 gal, and Roumania. The central committee is to 

 receive from each national committee the map of 

 its country, and to make them harmonize. 



The report ended with the following six resolu- 

 tions, which the committee asked the congress to 



1°. M. Karpinski will succeed M. de Moeller 

 (resigned) in representing Russia on the committee. 



2°. The carbonic system (or Permo-carbonifer- 

 ous) shall be represented on the map by three 

 distinct shades of gray. 



3°. Brown shades will be applied to the 'De- 

 vonic' 



4°. The color to represent the ' Siluric' is left to 

 the discretion of the committee. 



5°. The eruptive rocks shall be represented by 

 seven tints, ranging from bright red to dark 

 brownish red. 



6°. The determination of the other questions 

 mentioned in the report shaU be left to the discre- 

 tion of the committee.^ 



Proposition 1° was adopted without dissent. 

 Proposition 2°, after much opposition, was agreed 

 to, with the understanding that the proposed 

 method of the committee should not be under- 

 stood to have any bearing on the scientific set- 

 tlement of the question, but should be re- 

 garded purely as a provisional expedient adopted 

 in order to complete the map. Proposition 3° was 

 agreed to. Proposition 4°, after strong opposition 

 from Prof. Hughes and M. Jacquot, was finally 

 so modified as to allow the committee to adopt it 

 provisionally for the purposes of the map, with- 

 out prejudging the abstract scientific question at 

 all, and thus carried. Propositions 5° and 6° were 

 carried without objection. 



Sept. 30, at 2.30 p.m., the congress re-assembled to 

 take action on the report of the committee on the 

 unification of nomenclature, which was then pre- 

 sented by M. De walque. This report had been in the 

 main adopted at the Bologna congress, a few minor 



1 The questions here referred to comprise several matters 

 about which the committee was in doubt: e.g., (a) How are 

 the terranes to be represented, of which the subdivisions 

 were doubtful? (6) How are those subdivisions to be in- 

 dicated which are too small to appear on the scale of 

 1:1,500,000 adopted forthemap? (c) How are measures to be 

 represented when even their age is doubtful? (d) How rep- 

 resent subdivisions concerning the affiliations of which 

 geologists differ (Gault, Rhetic, etc,)? 



