SECTION C.

GEOLOGY.

OPENING ADDRESS BY W. BOYD DAWKINS, M. A., F.R.S., F.G.S., F.S. A., PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY IN OWENS COLLEGE, PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION.

IN taking the chair occupied twenty-four years ago in this place by my honoured master, Prof. Phillips, I have been much perplexed as to the most fitting lines on which to mould my address. It was open to me to deal with the contributions to our knowledge since our last meeting in Manchester in such a manner as to place before you an outline of our progress during the last twelve months. But this task, difficult in itself, is rendered still more so by the special circumstances of this meeting, attended, as it is, by so large a number of distinguished geologists, assembled from nearly every part of the world for the purposes of the Geological Congress. It would be presumptuous of me, in the presence of so many specialists, to attempt to summarize and co-ordinate their work. Indeed, we stand too near to it to be able to see the true proportions of the various parts. I will merely take this opportunity of offering to our visitors, in the name of this Section and of English geologists in general, a hearty welcome to our shores, feeling that not only will our science be benefited enormously by the simplification of geological nomenclature, but that we ourselves shall derive great advantage by a closer personal contact than we have enjoyed hitherto. Our science has made great strides during the last twenty-four years, and she has profited much from the development of her sisters. The microscopic analysis of the rocks has opened out a new field of research, in which physics and chemistry are in friendly rivalry, and in which fascinating discoveries are being made almost day by day as to metamorphism, and the crushing and shearing forces brought to bear upon the cooling and contracting crust while the earth was young. The deep-sea explorations have revealed the structure and the deposits of the ocean abysses; and the depths supposed to be without life, like the fabled deserts in the interior of Africa, are now known to teem with varied forms glowing with the richest colours. From a comparison of these deposits with the stratified rocks we may conclude that the latter are marginal, and deposited in depths ot greater than 1000 fathoms, or the shore end of the Globigerina ooze, and most of them at a very much less depth, and that consequently there is no proof in the geological record of the ocean depths having ever been in any other than their present places.

In North America the geological survey of the Western States has brought to light an almost unbroken series of animal remains, ranging from the Eocene down to the Pleistocene age. In these we find the missing links in the pedigree of the horse, and sufficient evidence of transitional forms to cause Prof. Flower to restore to its place in classification the order Ungulata of Cuvier. These may be expected to occupy the energies of our kinsmen on the other side of the Atlantic for many years, and to yield further proof of the truth of the doctrine of evolution. The use of this word reminds me how much we have grown since 1864, when evolution was under discussion, and when biological, physical, and geological laboratories could scarcely be said to have existed in this country. Truly may the scientific youth of to-day make the boast

Ἡμεῖς μὲν πατέρων μέγ' αμείνονες εὐχόμεθ ̓ εἶναι "We are much better off than our fathers were ;" while we, the fathers, have the poor consolation of knowing that when they are fathers their children will say the same of them. There is reason to suppose that our science will advance more swiftly in the future than it has in the past, because it has more delicate and precise methods of research than it ever had before, and because its votaries are more numerous than they ever were.

In 1864 the attention of geologists was mainly given to the investigations of the later stages of the Tertiary period. The bent of my pursuits inclines me to revert to this portion of geological inquiry, and to discuss certain points which have arisen during the last few years in connection with the classifi catory value of fossils, and the mode in which they may be best used for the co-ordination of strata in various parts of the world. The principle of homotaxy, first clearly defined by Prof. Huxley, has been fully accepted as a guiding principle in place of synchronism or contemporaneity, and the fact of certain groups of plants and animals succeeding one another in a definite

order, in countries remote from each other, is no longer taken to imply that each was living in the various regions at the same time, but rather, unless there be evidence to the contrary, that they were not. While, however, there is a universal agreement on this point among geologists, the classificatory value of the various divisions of the vegetable and animal kingdoms is still under discussion, and, as has been very well put by my predecessor in this chair at Montreal, sometimes the evidence of one class of organic remains points in one direction, while the evidence of another class points in another and wholly different direction, as to the geological horizon of the same rocks. The flora, put into the witness-box by the botanist, says one thing, while the Mollusca or the Vertebrata say another thing in the hands of their respective counsel. There seems to be a tacit assumption that the various divisions of the organic world present the same amount of variation in the rocks, and that consequently the evidence of every part of it is of equal value.

It will not be unprofitable to devote a few minutes to this question, premising that each case must be decided on its own merits, without prejudice, and that the whole of the evidence of the flora and fauna must be considered. We will take the flora first.

The Cryptogamic flora of the later Primary rocks shows but slight evidence of change. The forests of Britain and of Europe generally, and of North America, were composed practically of the same elements-Sigillaria, Calamites, and conifers allied to the Ginkho-throughout the whole of the Carboniferous (16,336 feet in thickness in Lancashire and Yorkshire) and Devonian rocks, and do not present greater differences than those which are to be seen in the existing forests of France and Germany. They evidently were continuous both in space and time, from their beginning in the Upper Silurian to their decay and ultimate disappearance in the Permian age. This disappearance was probably due to geographical and climatic changes, following the altered relations of land to sea at the close of the Carboniferous age, by which Secondary plants, such as Voltzia and Walchia, were able to find their way by migration from an area hitherto isolated. The Devonian formation is mapped off from the Carboniferous, and this from the Permian, but to a slight degree by the flora, and nearly altogether by the fauna. While the fauna exhibits great and important changes, the flora remained on the whole the same.

The forests of the Secondary period, consisting of various conifers and cycads, also present slight differences as they are traced upwards through the Triassic and Jurassic rocks, while remarkable and striking changes took place in the fauna, which mark the division of the formations into smaller groups. As the evidence stands at present, the cycads of the Lias do not differ in any important character from those of the Oolites or the Wealden, and the Salisburia in Yorkshire in the Liassic age is very similar to that of the Island of Mull in the Early Tertiary, and to that (Salisburia adiantifolia) now living in the open air in Kew Gardens.

Nor do we find evidence of greater variation in the Dicotyledonous forests, from their first appearance in the Cenomanian stage of the Cretaceous rocks of Europe and America, through the whole of the Tertiary period down to the present time. In North America, the flora of the Dakota series so closely resembles the Miocene of Switzerland, that Dr. Heer had no hesitation in assigning it in the first instance to the Miocene age. It consists of more than a hundred species, of which about onehalf are closely allied to those now living in the forests of North America-sassafras, tulip, plane, willow, oak, poplar, maple, beech, together with Sequoia, the ancestor of the giant redwood of California. The first palms also appear in both continents at this place in the geological record.

In the Tertiary period there is an unbroken sequence in the floras, as Mr. Starkie Gardner has proved, when they are traced over many latitudes, and most of the types still survive at the present day, but slightly altered. If, however, Tertiary floras of different ages are met with in one area, considerable differences are to be seen, due to progressive alterations in the climate and altered distribution of the land. As the temperature of the northern hemisphere became lowered, the tropical forests were pushed nearer and nearer to the equator, and were replaced by plants of colder habit from the northern regions, until ultimately, in the Pleistocene age, the Arctic plants were pushed far to the south of their present habitat. In consequence of this, Mr. Gardner concludes that "it is useless to seek in the Arctic regions for Eocene floras as we know them in our latitudes, for

during the Tertiary period the climatic conditions of the earth did not permit their growth there. Arctic fossil floras of temperate and therefore Miocene aspect are, in all probability, of Eocene age, and what has been recognized in them as a newer or Miocene facies is due to their having been first studied in Europe in latitudes which only became fitted for them in Miocene times. When stratigraphical evidence is absent or inconclusive, this unexpected persistence of plant types or species throughout the Tertiaries should be remembered, and the degrees of latitude in which they are found should be well considered before conclusions are published respecting their relative age."

This view is consistent with that held by the leaders in botany -Hooker, Dyer, Saporta, Dawson, and Asa Gray (whose recent loss we so deeply deplore)-that the North Polar region is the centre of dispersal, from which the Dicotyledons spread over the northern hemisphere. If it be true-and I, for one, am prepared to accept it-it will follow that for the co-ordination of the subdivisions of the Tertiary strata in various parts of the world the plants are uncertain guides, as they have been shown to be in the case of the Primary and Secondary rocks. In all cases where there is a clash of evidence, such as in the Laramie lignites, in which a Tertiary flora is associated with a Cretaceous fauna, the verdict, in my opinion, must go to the fauna. They are probably of the same geological age as the deposit at Aix-la-Chapelle.

I would remark, further, before we leave the floras behind us, that the migration of new forms of plants into Europe and America took place before the arrival of the higher types in the fauna, after the break-up of the land at the close of the Carboniferous period, and after the great change in geography at the close of the Neocomian. The Secondary plants preceded the Secondary vetebrates by the length of time necessary for the deposit of the Permian rocks, and the Tertiary plants preceded the Tertiary vertebrates by the whole period of the Upper Cretaceous.

Let us now turn to the fauna.

Prof. Huxley, in one of his many addresses which have left their mark upon our science, has called attention to the persistence of types revealed by the study of paleontology, or, to put it in other words, to the singularly little change which the ordinal groups of life have undergone since the appearance of life on the earth. The species, genera, and families present an almost endless series of changes, but the existing orders are for the most part sufficiently wide, and include the vast series of fossils without the necessity of framing new divisions for their reception. The number of these extinct orders is not equally distributed through the animal kingdom. Taking the total number of orders at 108, the number of extinct orders in the Invertebrata amounts only to 6 out of 88, or about 7 per cent., while in the Vertebrates it is not less than 12 out of 40, or 30 per cent. These figures imply that the amount of ordinal change in the fossil Vertebrates stands to that in the Invertebrata in the ratio of 30 to 7. This disproportion becomes still more marked when we take into account that the former had less time for variation than the latter, which had the start by the Cambrian and Ordovician periods. It follows also that as a whole they have changed faster.

The distribution of the extinct orders in the animal kingdom, taken along with their distribution in the rocks, proves further that some types have varied more than others, and at various places in the geological record. In the Protozoa, Porifera, and Vermes there are no extinct orders; among the Coelenterates one-the Rugosa; in the Echinodermata three-Cystideans, Edriasterida, and Blastoidea; in the Arthropoda two-the Trilobita and Eurypterida. All these, with the solitary exception of the obscure order Rugosa, are found only in the Primary rocks. Among the Pisces there are none; in the Amphibia one; the Labyrinthodonts ranging from the Carboniferous to the Triassic age. Among the Reptilia there are at least six of Secondary age-Ple-iosauria, Ichthyosauria, Dicynodontia, Pterosauria, Theriodontia, Deinosauria; in the Aves two-the Saururæ and Odontornithes, also Secondary. In the Mammalia the Amblypoda, Tillodontia, Condylarthra,__and Toxodontia represent the extinct orders-the three first Early Tertiary, and the last Pleistocene. It is clear, therefore, that, while the maximum amount of ordinal variation is presented by the Secondary Reptilia and Aves, all the extinct orders in the Tertiary are Mammalian.

If we turn from the extinct orders to the extinct species, it will also be found that the maximum amount of variation is

presented by the plants, and all the animals, excepting the Mammalia, in the Primary and Secondary periods.

in

The general impression left upon my mind by these facts is that, while all the rest of the animal kingdom had ceased to present important modifications at the close of the Secondary period, the Mammalia, which presented no great changes the Secondary rocks, were, to quote a happy_phrase of Prof. Gaudry, "en pleine évolution" in the Tertiary age. And when, further, the singular perfection of the record allows us to trace the successive and gradual modifications of the Mammalian types from the Eocene to the close of the Pleistocene age, it is obvious that they can be used to mark subdivisions of the Tertiary period, in the same way as the reigns of kings are used to mark periods in human history. In my opinion they mark the geological horizon with greater precision than the remains of the lower members of the animal kingdom, and in cases such as that of Pikermi, where typical Miocene forms, such as Deinotheria, are found in a stratum above an assemblage of marine shells of Pliocene age, it seems to me that the Mammalia are of greater value in classification than the Mollusca, some of the species of which have been living from the Eocene down to the present day. Yet another important principle must be noted. The fossils are to be viewed in relation to those forms now living in their respective geographical regions. The depths of the ocean have been where they are now since the earliest geological times, although continual geographical changes have been going on at their margins. In other words, geographical provinces must have existed even in the earlier geological periods, although there is reason to believe that they did not differ so much from each other as at the present day. It follows from this that the only just standard for comparison in dealing with the fossils, and especially of the later rocks, is that which is offered by the fauna and flora of the geographical province in which they are found. The nonrecognition of this principle has led to serious confusion. The fauna, for example, of the Upper Sivalik formation has been very generally viewed from the European stand-point and placed in the Miocene, while, judged by the stand-point of India, it is really Pliocene. A similar confusion has followed from taking the Miocene flora of Switzerland as a standard for the Tertiary flora of the whole of the northern hemisphere.

It now remains for us to see how these principles may be applied to the co-ordination of Tertiary strata in various parts of the world. In 1880 I proposed a classification of the European Tertiaries, in which, apart from the special characteristic fossils of each group, stress was laid on the gradual approximation of various groups to the living Mammalia. The definitions are the following:

Wasatch Bridger and Uinta strata contain representatives of the orders Cheiroptera and Insectivora, the sub-orders Artio- and Perissodactyla, and the families Vespertilionida and Tapirida; but no living genera.1 The Mammalia are obviously in the same stage of evolution as in the Eocenes of Europe, although there are but few genera, and no species common to the two.

The White River and Loup Fork groups present us with the living genera Sciurus, Castor, Hystrix, Rhinoceros, Dicotyles, and others; but no living species, as is the case with the Miocenes of Europe. In the Pliocenes of Oregon the first living species appear, such as the Beaver, the Prairie Wolf, and two Rodents (Thomomys clusius and T. talpoides), while in the Pleistocene river deposits and caves, from Eschscholtz Bay in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south, there is the same grouping of living with extinct species as in Europe, and the same evidence in the glaciated regions that the Mammalia Occupied the land after the retreat of the ice.

If we analyze the rich and abundant fauna yielded by the caves and river deposits both of South America and of Australia, it will be seen that the Pleistocene group in each is marked by the presence of numerous living species in each, the first being remarkable for their gigantic extinct Edentata, and the second for their equally gigantic extinct Marsupials.

The admirable work of Mr. Lydekker allows us also to see how these definitions apply to the fossil Mammalia of India. The Miocene fauna of the Lower Sivaliks has yielded the living genera Rhinoceros and Manis, and no living species.

The fauna of the Upper Sivaliks, although it has only been shown, and that with some doubt, to contain one living Mammal, the Nilghai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), stands in the same relation to that of the Oriental Region as that of the Pliocenes of Europe to that of the Palearctic Region, and is therefore Pliocene. And lastly, the Narbada formation presents us with the first traces of Paleolithic Man in India in association with the living one-horned Rhinoceros, the Nilghai, the Indian Buffalo, two extinct Hippopotami, Elephants, and others, and is Pleistocene.

It may be objected to the Prehistoric and Historic divisions of the Tertiary period that neither the one nor the other properly fall within the domain of geology. It will, however, be found that in tracing the fauna and flora from the Eocene downwards to the present day there is no break which renders it possible to stop short at the close of the Pleistocene. The living plants and animals were in existence in the Pleistocene age in every part of the world which has been investigated. The European Mollusca were in Europe in the Pliocene age. The only difference between the Pleistocene fauna, on the one hand, and the Prehistoric, on the other, consists in the extinction of certain of the Mammalia at the close of the Pleistocene age in the Old and New Worlds, and in Australia. The Prehistoric fauna in Europe is also characterized by the introduction of the ancestors of the present domestic animals, some of which, such as the Celtic shorthorn (Bos longifrons), sheep, goat, and domestic hog, reverted to a feral condition, and have left their remains in caves, alluvia, and peat-bogs over the whole of the British Isles and the Continent. These remains, along with those of Man in the Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron stages of culture, mark off the Prehistoric from the Pleistocene strata. There is surely no reason why a cave used by Palæolithic Man should be handed over to the geologist, while that used by men in the Prehistoric age should be taken out of his province, or why he should be asked to study the lower strata only in a given section, and leave the upper to be dealt with by the archæologist. In these cases the ground is common to geology and archæology, and the same things, if they are looked at from the stand-point of the history of the earth, belong to the first, and, if from the stand-point of the history of Man, to the second.

If, however, there be no break of continuity in the series of events from the Pleistocene to the Prehistoric ages, still less is there in those which connect the Prehistoric with the period embraced by history. The historic date of a cave or of a bed of alluvium is as clearly indicated by the occurrence of a coin as the geological position of a stratum is defined by an appeal to a characteristic fossil. The gradual unfolding of the present order of things from what went before compels me to recognize the fact that the Tertiary period extends down to the present day. The Historic period is being recorded in the strata now being

The genus l'esperugo has not been satisfactorily determined. - Cope, "Report of Geol. Survey of the Territories: Tertiary Vertebrata," "i., 1824

formed, exactly in the same way as the other divisions of the Tertiary have left their mark in the crust of the earth, and history is incomplete without an appeal to the geological record. In the masterly outline of the destruction of Roman civilization in Britain the historian of the English Conquest was obliged to use the evidence, obtained from the upper strata, in caves which had been used by refugees from the cities and villas; and among the materials for the future history of this city there are, to my mind, none more striking than the proof, offered by the silt in the great Roman bath, that the resort of crowds had become so utterly desolate and lonely in the ages following the English Conquest as to allow of the nesting of the wild duck.

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I turn now to the place of Man in the geological record, a question which has advanced but little since the year 1864. Then, as now, his relation to the glacial strata in Britain was in dispute. It must be confessed that the question is still without a satisfactory answer, and that it may well be put to a suspense account. We may, however, console ourselves with the reflection that the River-drift Man appears in the Pleistocene strata of England, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Algiers, Egypt, Palestine, and India along with Pleistocene animals, some of which were pre-glacial in Britain. He is also proved to have been post-glacial in Britain, and was probably living in happy, sunny, southern regions, where there was no ice, and therefore no Glacial period, throughout the Pleistocene age.

It may further be remarked that Man appears in the geological record where he might be expected to appear. In the Eocene the Primates were represented by various Lemuroids (Adapis, Necrolemur, and others) in the Old and New Worlds. In the Miocene the Simiada (Dryopithecus, Pliopithecus, Orcopithecus) appear in Europe, while Man himself appears, along with the living species of Mammalia, in the Pleistocene Age, both in Europe and in India.

The question of the antiquity of Man is inseparably connected with the further question: "Is it possible to measure the lapse of geological time in years?" Various attempts have been made, and all, as it seems to me, have ended in failure. Till we know the rate of causation in the past, and until we can be sure that it has been invariable and uninterrupted, I cannot see anything but failure in the future. Neither the rate of the erosion of the land by sub-aerial agencies, nor its destruction by oceanic currents, nor the rate of the deposit of stalagmite or of the movement of the glaciers, has as yet given us anything at all approaching a satisfactory date. We only have a sequence of events recorded in the rocks, with intervals the length of which we cannot measure. We do not know the exact duration of any one geological event. Till we know both, it is surely impossible to fix a date, in terms of years, either for the first appearance of Man or for any event outside the written record. We may draw cheques upon "the bank of force" as well as "on the bank of time.' Two of my predecessors in this chair, Dr. Woodward and Prof. Judd, have dealt with the position of our science in relation to biology and mineralogy. Prof. Phillips in 1864 pointed out that the later ages in geology and the earlier ages of mankind were fairly united together in one large field of inquiry. In these remarks I have set myself the task of examining that side of our science which looks towards history. My conception of the aim and results of geology is that it should present a universal history of the various phases through which the earth and its inhabitants have passed in the various periods, until ultimately the story of the earth. and how it came to be what it is, is merged in the story of Man and his works in the written records. Whatever the future of geology may be, it certainly does not seem likely to suffer in the struggle for existence in the scientific renascence of the nineteenth century.

NOTES.

MAJOR-GENERAL PRJEVALSKY started on Thursday last on his fifth journey of exploration in Tibet, with the intention of penetrating, if possible, into Lhassa, the capital. The General, with his officers and Cossacks, will this time take advantage of the new Central Asian railway as far as Samarcand, whence they will proceed to Semiretchinsk, and so to the Tibetan table-lands. General Prjevalsky will, it is thought, on this occasion have the best chance ever afforded him of entering the forbidden residence of the Dalai Lama.

COLONEL HEAVISIDE, of the Indian Survey Department, has retired after more than twenty years' service in the Department, during which he had charge of several important geodetic and geographical operations, notably the completion and extension of the series of pendulum observations formerly carried on by Captain Basevi.

A SERIOUS earthquake, which was felt throughout both islands, occurred in New Zealand on the morning of the Ist instant.

from which the eruption really occurred, has been entirely blown away, the lighter pieces ejected from it being swept away over the neighbouring mountains, whilst the heavier pieces were carried some five or seven miles, and have formed a table-land at its base, covered with stones and ashes. No report has been received as to any foreigners having been within the fatal region at the time of the occurrence."

M. CHEVREUL entered his 103rd year last week. On Tues

Palace of Industry.

DURING the month of August at the Granton Marine Station, the use of which was kindly granted by Dr. Murray of the Challenger, Mr. Patrick Geddes and Mr. T. Arthur Thomson conducted a class of over thirty students of both sexes-teachers, medical students, and others from various parts of Scotland and England-through a course of lectures and laboratory work in

botany and zoology. The work at Granton was supplemented

by visits to the Botanical Gardens, Museum, &c., and by field and marine excursions, including a day's dredging in the Firth of Forth. This is the second year of the course, and it is meant to be continued in future years.

The

A CORRESPONDENT of the Daily News gives the following account of the recent eruption of Bandai-San in Northern Japan:-"The rumbling and trembling of the earth have now stopped, but the mountain still belches forth smoke, and there are evidences that mighty subterranean forces are still at work. The place where the disaster occurred has been and is greatly changing, mountains have risen where there were none before, and large lakes appearing where once there were only rice fields. This being so, it is with the greatest difficulty that guides can be procured, as none can tell where a road now leads and how far it is passable. Landmarks are obliterated, and villages which but a week ago nestled among the rich and plentiful vegetation of the mountain-side are now beneath twenty feet of ash and cinders. The wounded are receiving treatment in the schoolhouse at Inawashiro, but their condition is terrible. Some have fractured skulls, the majority broken limbs, while others are fearfully burned. Five villages have been totally buried. state of the bodies recovered resembles the appearance of victims of a huge boiler explosion. Many are cut to pieces, and others parboiled, so that it is difficult to distinguish sex. But the most ghastly sights which met the eye of the helpers were bodies dangling on the branches of blackened and charred trees. Thrown into the air by the awful violence of the eruption, their descent had in many cases been arrested by the trees, and there the victims hung, their bodies exposed to the cruel and wellnigh ceaseless rain of red-hot cinders and burning ashes. From appearances death speedily relieved them from their agony, yet, short as the time was, their sufferings must have been past belief. In other places flesh hangs from the branches of trees as paper from London telegraph wires. Bandai-San is composed of five separate peaks, of which the largest is called Great Bandai. The second is a perfectly smooth mountain. The third is called Kushigamine, and is the second in height. The fourth is called the Middle or Northern Bandai, and is the one which broke forth; while the fifth, which is called the Small Bandai, is close to the fourth. Great Bandai is only covered with white ashes, but No. 2 has been greatly shaken, while all the trees above the centre of the mountain have been destroyed. From No. 3 large stones and boulders have been hurled to the bottom, and from half-way down the mountain its sides are covered with bluish earth. No. 4,

THE twenty-fifth annual meeting of the British Pharmaceutical Association is being held in Bath this week. On Monday evening the President, Mr. F. Baden Benger, and other officers of the Conference held a reception at the Grand Hotel, followed by a conversazione. The opening meeting took place on Tuesday morning. The Presidential address dealt largely with the progress of the Association since its establishment, and with the preliminary education of pharmacists.

THE thirty-seventh meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science was held at Cleveland, Ohio, on August 15 and following days. Science states that the meetings were not as well attended as in past years, but the whole

gathering was nevertheless successful. The largest attendance of members appears to have been 303. The scientific departments at Washington were well represented, and the most prominent scientific men of the country were present. According to the secretary's report, the financial condition of the Association is excellent. The research fund, consisting of the contributions of life members, amounts to more than 4400 dollars. The subject of the address of Prof. Langley, the retiring President, was the history of the theory of radiant heat, which we hope to reprint in extenso, if space per.nits, on a future occasion. Prior to the meeting, advantage was taken of the presence of a number of American geologists to take the preliminary steps for the establishment of an American Geological Society. In its general report of the meeting, Science refers specially to a lecture delivered by Prof. Stanley Hall. "It was the first time that the new psychology had been given a place on the programme of the Association. . . . Prof. Hall gave a brief review of the scope of experimental psychology. He dwelt on the researches made in the study of psychologic physiology, and on the functions of brain and nerves; he mentioned the methods of psychophysic inquiries, and the important bearing of ethnological studies upon psychological questions. He concluded his sketch, which was listened to with the greatest attention, with a reference to the study of hypnotism, which is one of the most promising fields of psychic research." Major Powell is the President for the current year, and Prof. Mendenhall for next year.

MR. COOK, the President of the Section of Geology and Geography, took for the subject of his address the International Geological Congress, and the part of American geologists in it. He recalls the fact that in 1876 the Association originated the Congress of Geologists in Paris in 1878 for the settling of obscure points relating to geological classification and nomenclature; since that time similar Congresses have been held in Bologna and Berlin, and one is about to be held in London, but, says Mr. Cook, a meeting of the Congress must be held in the United States, and American geology must be fully represented, before any conclusion can be reached which will be accepted by the scientific world, and therefore an attempt will be made at the London Congress to have the meeting of 1891 held in the United States. The discussion on the important topics here mentioned should not be regarded as closed until after the American meeting, and he defines the business of American geologists, prior to the meeting, to be the preparation of a case which will fairly "present the claims of American geology to representation in a general system of geology.”