2 
THE INTERNATIONAL GEOLOGICAL CONGRESS. 
At this Paris Congress 21 countries were represented by 304 
members, the geologists of other countries than France numbering 
110, or 36 per cent, of the whole. Little more was done than to 
determine the course to be adopted in future, to decide that the 
second meeting should be held at Bologna in 1881, and to nominate 
International Committees to report to that meeting on (1) geological 
nomenclature, (2) colours and signs for geological maps, and (3) 
rules of nomenclature in palaeontology. 
At the Bologna Congress, duly held in 1881, the attendance was 
rather less, 17 countries being represented by 224 members, the 
number of foreign geologists, or those other than Italians, being 
75, or 33-§- per cent, of the whole. The first two days of this 
Congress were devoted to geological nomenclature, the next two to 
geological maps, the fifth to palaeontological nomenclature, and the 
last to the formal closing of the Congress and the decision that the 
third triennial meeting should be held at Berlin in 1884. 
Many of the resolutions passed at the Bologna Congress relate to 
the use of precise language. For example it was determined that 
the word “ formation ” should only be used in its original sense, as 
it is in France, where it is considered to be an abbreviation of 
“ mode of formation.” We may therefore correctly speak of 
eruptive formations, calcareous formations, marine formations, etc., 
but not of the Silurian or of the Eocene formation. With regard 
to the geological division of rocks, a name it is correct to give to 
any of the mineral masses which compose the crust of the earth, 
whether hard or soft, it was resolved that the term Group should 
be applied to the largest division, System to the next, Series to 
the third, and Stage to the fourth, a Group thus comprising a 
number of Systems, a System a number of Series, and a Series 
a number of Stages; * while the time-words corresponding with 
these were to be, in descending order of magnitude, Era, Period, 
Epoch, and Age. But perhaps the most important determination 
arrived at was that a geological map of Europe, on the scale of 
Trsw oTc ' o a (about 23^- miles to the inch) should be constructed at a 
cost estimated at £2500, a sum which has been contributed by the 
various governments of Europe. This map is to be prepared at 
Berlin. The size will be about 12 feet by 10 feet, and it will be 
in 49 sheets so arranged that a number may be mounted together 
to show any required area. 
The Berlin Congress was held in 1885, having been postponed 
from 1884 on account of the prevalence of cholera in the south of 
Europe in that year. It was attended by 255 members repre¬ 
senting 18 countries, the foreign geologists numbering 92, or 
36 per cent, of the whole, as at the Paris meeting. At this 
Congress papers were read on various geological subjects, many of 
which were not of international importance. The principal work 
done in furtherance of the main object of the Congress was in the 
* The transposition of the terms Group and Series would make the names of 
the divisions more consonant with English ideas, and I hope that this alteration 
will he suggested and adopted at the London Congress. 
