International Congress of Geologists. — Frazer. 45 
but the principal reason is probably because from the repre- 
sentations of the English committee everybody believed that 
the official volume itself would appear in a few weeks or, at 
most, a few months after the adjournment of the Congress. 
One can only surmise what has caused the delay, but the fear 
is that in spite of the anticipations of the London committee 
the volume is (apparently) as far from being issued as it was 
four months ago. 
The writer had the pleasure of presenting an account of the 
Berlin Congress in the columns of the ximericaii Jotbrnal of 
Science, Dec. 1885, and very shortly afterwards a volume with 
a few and unimportant changes which had received the revis- 
ion and endorsement of all those who took part in the debates 
of the Congress. The official volume of this, the third session 
of the Congress corresponds closely with the smaller digest, 
which was the only connected statement of the proceedings of 
the Congress accessible during the interval of three years from 
1885 until 1888. 
He knows from personal experience the difficulties which 
beset the path of the unofficial reporter of proceedings like 
these and can the more heartily accord his praise to the large 
quarto pamphlet of the learned and distinguished chief of the 
geological service of Portugal. 
There were some notable improvements over the methods em- 
ployed in Berlin which were noticeable in the London Congress 
and especially in the daily reports of the proceedings of the 
Council and of the general session of the Congress itself; with 
the untiring aid of the Abbe Renard, Dr. Charles Barrois, and 
Dr. C. LeNeve Foster, the two sets of Journals were written 
out in full every day and printed at night, so that in the morning 
when the Council met at 9 :30 A. M., each member found lying 
before him on yellow paper, a record of the Council's proceed- 
ings of the day before, by the aid of which he could closely 
follow and intelligently amend the account read by the Secre- 
tary. The same was true when the Congress met after the 
Council meeting. The proceedings of the day before printed 
on white paper were distributed among the members. This 
convenience was due to the fore-thought of Mr. Topley and 
the devotion of the three gentlemen named above who frequently 
spent the greater part of the night in the work. It is the more 
surprising that with this troublesome matter of routine busi- 
