Barrande and the Taconic System—Mar con. 135 
Nomenclature is International.— If any thing in geology 
is ever international, it will be certainly the classification and 
nomenclature of strata of the whole world. To impose a no¬ 
menclature by voting has, at last, been recognized as an im¬ 
possibility, at the London Congress of 1888; thanks to the 
exertions and excellent objections and reasons given by Messrs. 
Mojsisovics and Neumayr at the Berlin Congress, and the re¬ 
marks contained in my paper: “American geological classifi¬ 
cation and nomenclature” against the abuse of temporary^ 
majorities as variable as the places of meeting of the Congress. 
Such a solution as the acceptance and use of an harmonious, 
just, and well balanced general classification and nomenclature 
in historical geology, must come little by little, by mere con¬ 
viction and a better knowledge of all the complicated elements 
of the question; and not by the voting of a very limited number 
of geologists, combined more or less with an association and a 
previous understanding of five or six of the most powerful and 
important Geological Surveys. Liberty and complete independ¬ 
ence in science, have always been the last word on every question 
and it is good always to remember that very often one good 
observer is right against all others. In geology we have the 
remarkable examples of William Smith, Alexander Brongniart, 
de Charpentier, Louis Agassiz, Sedgwick, Barrande and also 
certainly of Dr. Ebenezer Emmons. 
At the Berlin Congress of 1885, Mr. A. Geikie said: “the 
question of the classification of the Cambrian and Silurian rocks 
is mainly ( avant tout) an English question.” (Compte-Rendu, 
p. lxxxii.) Loud murmurs was the sentiment at once expressed 
by the majority, almost the unanimity, of the geologists present 
at the meeting; and ever since I have received many protests 
against such an exclusive assumption on the part of English 
geologists. I shall quote an extract from a letter of the Director 
of one of the most important Geological Surveys of Europe: 
“Comme vous avez tihs bien dit en combattant la maniere de 
voix de M. Geikie, qui voulait donner une nationality anglaise 
au probleme de subdivirer le Cambrien et le Silurien; cette 
question, comme toutes celles qui se rapportent a la geologie 
sont eminemment cosmopolites, et leur solution rentre dans la 
categorie des affaires internation ales.” 
The work of classification and nomenclature has began in 
