HO The AmeticMi Geologist. August, i898 
ta, merely because of the fact that I happened to suggest it. 
I have always found it the best to use terms already in use if 
it is possible to do so. When an author proposes, defines and 
publishes a name in science it ceases to be his property and 
subject to his control. He cannot withdraw it or replace it. 
His insistence upon its adoption avails nothing. The workers 
in his branch determine its usefulness or its uselessness in ac- 
cordance with the laws of nomenclature that best subserve the 
science. Judgment passed upon titles must have as its founda- 
tion the avoidance of confusion. Were it possible, I would 
be perfectly satisfied to substitute for Augusta the name 
Dewey, Hobson, or even Yankee Doodle, if those who are to 
come in contact with the formation would propose it and agree 
to its usage. 
In view of the fact that the name Osage is almost certainly 
to be retained for another member, having the same taxono- 
mic rank, of the Carboniferous in the same region, and in view 
of the many other objections regarding the character of the 
subdivision it is proposed to refer to, as enumerated in a pre- 
vious article, I am not yet convinced of the advisability, or of 
the desirability of using the name for any part of the Missis- 
sippian series. 
Mr. Weller is a paleontologist. He is well acquainted with 
the code of rules governing the nomenclature of fossils. He 
knows full well that essentially the same rules exist in other 
branches of science. Why then should he expect to enter the 
field of geology and not expect to follow the same laws, at 
least in spirit, as nearly as possible. 
In his other article on the Mississippian series, Mr. Weller 
dwells upon the "higher purposes of major classifications as an 
expression of the vital features of the history of the region." 
whatever that may be. He speaks also of the applicability, in 
a geologic province, of an epoch name "as a stratigraphic 
name to all strata deposited during that epoch." In the very 
next sentence he says: "It may not always be possible to draw 
a sharp and fixed line in the stratigraphic series between two 
succeeding epochs so that every where throughout the geo- 
logic province the exact limits of the historical epochs may be 
pointed out." 
There never was a clearer presentation of the utter incon- 
