Personal and Scicntijic News. 369 
committ-je wliicli first formed the Congress was called the 
''Foundation Committee of Philadelphia," and was so named 
in 1876 during the celebration of the centenary of America's 
independence. The chief officers of the city government, of 
the superior and common council, the judges of the several 
courts, the United States officers in Philadelphia, the presidents 
of the banks, the great railways and the great manufacturing 
concerns, the attorneys, business men, teachers, and all classes, 
in fact, had united in a cordial welcome. While he was not 
authorized to make specific declarations, he could say on his 
own responsibility that inasmuch as the principal officers of 
the three great railway systems, which might be called trans- 
continental as well as trar»s-oceanic, had joined in the invita- 
tion, there wa» no doubt that excursions would be arranged for 
the members to the Rocky mountains, the great lakes, the 
south-east coast, and to Canada. Moreover, it was probable 
that the cost of the voyage from Europe would be reduced 
one-half. 
A new committee of uniformity of nomenclature, with ex- 
tended duties, was created, with instructions to put itself into 
communication with the national committees and with scien- 
tific societies . This consists of the members of the old com- 
mittee, with the addition of von Zittel in place of Renevier for 
Germany, de Castillo for Mexico and Merkelbusch for the 
Argentine Republic. The president is Capellini, and the sec- 
retary is Dewalque. 
M. DE Lapparent presented the report of the committee on 
the subject of voting. In order to avoid the inconvenience 
which might arise from the great numerical superiority of the 
members belonging to the country in which the Congress is 
held, the committee recommended that the votes should be de- 
cided in the following manner: — The votes of native members 
and the votes of the foreign members should be taken separately. 
If the votes of the two divisions were accordant, the result was 
to be accepted; but if they differed, the subject was to be con- 
sidered immature and for settlement. Matters purely theoretical 
should not be voted upon by the congress. These recommen- 
dations were carried unanimously. M. de Lapparent then ex- 
pressed his appreciation of the courtesy and respect for the in- 
dividual which had been shown by the English members of 
the Congress. They had been in a sufficient majority to carry 
any proposition; but, instead of using their power, the London 
Congress had been signalized by the adoption of the foregoing 
rules for voting. 
After adjournment excursions were made to North Wales, 
Yorkshire, the Isle of Wight and other places of geological 
interest, of which an explanatory handbook had been prepared 
by Mr. Topley. 
