Editorial Comment. 
148 
the business meeting of the society was to be during the winter 
holidays. The meeting pronounced in favor of publications, 
and, in this view,®an annual assessment of ten dollars. A com¬ 
mittee was appointed to draft a constitution to be presented at 
an adjourned meeting on the following day. The committee 
consisted of Alexander Winchell of Ann Arbor, chairman, J. J. 
Stevenson of New York, secretary, Edward Orton of Columbus, 
Charles H. Hitchcock of Hanover and J. R. Proctor of Frank¬ 
fort. 
At the adjourned meeting, August 15, the committee pre¬ 
sented the form of a provisional constitution which, with slight 
changes, was adopted. As to membership, meetings and fees, 
it embodied the instruction^ of the earlier meeting; and beyond 
this, contained only the usual provisions for name, officers and 
amendments, and a clause providing for going into effect. The 
same committee was continued, with instructions to give the 
requisite attention to the completion of the organization. 
It is noticeable that the action at Cleveland was not under¬ 
taken by Section E., but by American geologists in pursuance 
of a call addressed to “all American geologists. 11 Nor did the 
plan of organization contemplate restricting the society to per¬ 
sons connected with the Association. It is thus in no way 
subordinated to Section E., nor to the Association, though it 
proposes to hold an annual meeting conjointly with the Associ¬ 
ation . It possesses complete autonomy of its own, and requires 
no sanction from the Association in its attempt to represent the 
interests of American geology. 
Thirty-seven eligible persons subscribed to the constitution 
before the adjournment of the Association. Immediately after 
adjournment, the Committee of Organization resumed its efforts, 
and by November 1, more than one hundred names had been 
obtained, and the first meeting was promptly called to assemble 
at Ithaca, under the hospitality of the Cornell University. An 
informal conference was held on the afternoon and evening of 
December 26, and at 10 a. m. December 27, the formal meeting 
convened in the hall of Sage College. The attendance was 
small, but it was well understood that the attendance was not 
an exponent of the deep and general interest felt in the move¬ 
ment. The meeting was called to order and presided over by 
the chairman of the Organizing Committee. In a preliminary 
