Congrès géologique international

“ Instead therefore of there being no report from
the British Committee, on the contrary, the British Committee was the only one that had sent in reports upon the Classification and Nomenclature of their own country, and we must now wait for similar reports from other countries before discussion can be invited by the International Commission as to how far, that is, into how great detail, the correlation of the rocks of distant regions can be carried. In the mean time we can push on the enquiry with such data as have been furnished by private individuals. ”

“ Als eine grosse Zahl der hervorragendsten Geologen des alten und des neuen Continents in Paris zu dem ersten internationalen Geologen-Congress versammelt waren, hatte in Deutschland der Gedanke, dass Congresse unserer Wissenschaft einen grossen Nutzen gewähren könnten, noch nicht Wurzel gefasst. Deutschland fehlt unter den Ländern, denen die Vicepräsidenten des Pariser Congresses angehörten. ”

“ The relationship is recognized in the combination of species to form faunas and in the varietal modification of species, as well as in the identity of the species themselves. We cannot find stronger contrasts across the Atlantic eastward than are found across the continent westward. The principles which the American geologist is required to apply in discussing the geology of his own domain are no less broad than those which the International Congress meets with when it attempts to unify nomenclature for all the world. ”

“ Pour les autres divisions, sous-étages et assises, nous sommes d'avis de laisser pleine liberté aux géologues de se conduire dans leur nomenclature suivant les lieux et les circonstances, à la seule condition qu'on indique de quel étage font partie les divisions qu'ils décrivent; par ex.: on dira le Sinémurien fait partie du Liasien; le Soissonien fait partie de l'Éocénique inférieur, etc.
Nous terminons ici ces considérations, avec l'ardent désir que le congrès puisse amener l'entente tant désirée pour le bonheur de la science qui nous est chère. ”

“ Il ne vous échappera pas, que dans ces circonstances il nous reste beaucoup à faire; des travaux non encore achevés, des lacunes à combler ne vous étonneront Pas. Cependant nous espérons que vous emporterez dans vos pays la conviction, que le travail sérieux et solide n'a pas fait défaut et que l'amour du travail règne ici partout.
Le congrès de Bologne a pris la résolution de faire exécuter à Berlin une carte géologique de l'Europe par les soins d'une commission internationale et sous la direction de MM. Beyrich et Hauchecorne. ”

“ The primary object of this Congress is to establish among geologists and geological organizations uniform methods of geological nomenclature, classification, and cartography, which, by facilitating mutual comprehension of the results of geological research by different nations, will tend to increase our knowledge of the structure and resources of the earth. ”

“ The subdivision of any great geological system must depend in great measure upon the differences in the faunas or floras contained, and, as I believe, this depends in no small degree upon the geological changes which modified and shifted the geographical conditions under which the animals lived. A sandstone will not contain the same species as a following limestone, and even in arenaceous shales, a slight change in the fineness or coarseness or in the amount of argillaceous mud mixed with the sand, modifies the composition of the fauna contained in it. ”

“ Chacun de nous est peu de chose; mais l'ensemble de nos connaissances forme un merveilleux faisceau; telle est l'œuvre de nos congrès internationaux de géologie.
Et puis, Messieurs, nous avons du bonheur à travailler; mais nous en avons aussi à nous aimer les uns les autres. Je crois être le plus vieux des.géologues qui ont traversé l'Atlantique pour venir à ce Congrès; j'ai rencontré bien des travailleurs pendant ma vie, et, je vous le déclare dans toute la sincérité de mon âme, plus on voit, plus on connaît les hommes de science, plus aussi on les aime. ”

“ The history of the growth of every branch of natural science is 11 record of development in classification from the adventive toward the essential; and in no field of knowledge is this course of development better displayed than in Pleistocene geology in this country. The terminal moraines, the drift sheets, the far-traveled boulders have long been recognized by geologists and laymen alike, but knowledge of them yielded no profit until they were grouped as products of a continental glacier. ”

“ Les membres qui désireraient examiner des localités ou des horizons géologiques spéciaux sont priés de communiquer leurs désirs aux secrétaires le plus tôt possible.
On ne négligera rien pour les contenter. Une courte excursion a déjà été projetée par M. le professeur H. S. Williams pour la semaine avant la réunion du Congrès.
Cette excursion permettra aux géologues de voir le développement typique des couches paléozoïques (surtout du Dévonien) de l'État de New York. Un nombre considérable de géologues européens ont déjà signifié leur désir d'y prendre part. ”

“ Parmi ces dernières il faut citer : la carte géologique d'Europe, la classification des roches cambriennes et siluriennes et des roches tertiaires. Il y aura lieu de discuter aussi quelques questions de nomenclature, référées au Congrès par la Commission Internationale, ainsi que divers autres sujets.
En outre, le Comité d'Organisation propose de consacrer une séance spéciale à une discussion sur les schistes cristallins. Des mémoires sur ce sujet ont été sollicités de plusieurs spécialistes étrangers. Ces mémoires seront imprimés d'avance et distribués à l'ouverture du
Congrès ”

“ Certainement la part des organisateurs de ce congrès est immense, mais nous ne pouvons pas oublier qu'une grande partie du succès revient aussi à l'accueil particulièrement cordial que nos confrères d'Allemagne réservaient à ceux qui se sont rendus dans cette belle ville de Berlin.
C'est un des privilèges de notre science, MM., - et peut-être le meilleur, — que l'obligation où elle se trouve de mettre en contact immédiate des savants de toutes les nations.
La géologie ne nous apprend pas seulement, MM., à quel point les frontières politiques sont quelquefois artificielles ”

“ To cause it to be understood that American geologists will acquiesce in the recommendations of the Congress by sacrificing individual opinions to a reasonable degree, provided that these recommendations do not hamper the efforts of research by requiring more correlation of beds between the two continents than observation can justify. ”

“ Mais allons-nous admettre qu'on doit définir un système d'après les habitudes reçues, d'après l'affection que tel ou tel géologue a pu concevoir pour un terrain qu'il a bien étudié, ou bien nous guideronsDons d'après des considérations générales, susceptibles d'intéresser les géologues du monde entier?
Je demande donc au congrès de décider, à titre de principe, que pour qu'un système ait le droit d'exister, il faut qu'il puisse être reconnu dans le monde entier, et qu'en outre on puisse le diviser en zones distinctes. ”

“ The classification of our Paleozoic rocks by faunas alone seems to me one-sided, and I think the physical history of the strata should also be considered. We all know or believe that the streams of time and life have flowed on continuously in the world's history, and if we could obtain access to the sediments which have accumulated in the sea basins that have always been such, we should find the record without breaks; the successive faunas interlocking in such a way that no sharp lines could be drawn between them. ”

“ As well, indeed, reduce the organic life of the globe to the orders, genera, and species observed on a single continent as attempt to define the ever varying rockformations of one continent by those of another.
Meantime, the requirements of the people and of science necessitate publication from time to time of the preliminary results of geologic investigation; and among such necessary publications are maps, charts, diagrams, and other works embodying graphic conventions. ”

“ Or, par la force des choses, chacun de nous est entraîné à étudier des points spéciaux ; pour faire des œuvres originales, on doit concentrer ses forces sur une partie seulement de la science. Quelques-uns parmi nous se plaisent dans la recherche des vertébrés, parfois étranges ou gigantesques, qui peuplèrent nos continents dans les temps passés; d'autres s'attachent aux invertébrés, créatures plus humbles, mais qui rendent de plus grands services aux géologues pour la détermination des âges de la terre. D'autres encore considèrent les développements successifs des flores. ”

“ To some of the suggestions contained in the report of the Internationa Commission on Nomenclature, pp. 49-57, I might agree, but to the most o them I could not agree. (B.) The questions contained in B, C, D, E, G, b ; I, J, K, and L are not questions to be settled by convention of geologists, but are questions to be settled by investigation; and it will be years, perhaps decades, before the majority of them can be settled. Some of them may never be settled. It is absurd to speak of establishing facts of observation by agree. ”

“ In no other single country are the various types of geologic structure exhibited on so grand a scale.
It is noteworthy that the entire series of rock groups recognized by geology is typically represented in the United States: There are broad Archean tracts in New England, in the Adirondacks, in the Piedmont division of the Appalachians, and in the Lake Superior region — the nuclei about which were wrapped the sediments of the nascent continent, — and there are many scarcely narrower belts which have been brought to the surface by orogenic movements in the far West. ”

“ Comme l'histoire donne la clef des conditions sociales et politiques, de même la géologie donne celle des formes continentales et des structures orogéniques. En Europe, les oscillations de la croûte terrestre dans l'histoire géologique ont été si grandes et si variées, qu'elles équivalent à des créations et à des destructions fréquentes du continent. En Amérique, a i contraire, le développement, du moins depuis le commencement de l'époque cambrienne, s'est presque constamment porté vers son achèvement. ”

“ Our knowledge of the difficult subject of the so-called crystalline Archaean formations is still in its infancy; but no profound theory is required to guide future research. We find the grandest intrusions and alterations in those elevated mountain areas where the upper layers of the earth-crust have yielded differentially, and where igneous material has been injected into the resultant cavities. But our continents are in reality merely broadbased mountain elevations rising from the wider-spreading low plains forming the ocean floor ”

“ At present Lyell's names are a convenience, but for America they must be only temporary. I do not quite agree with Prof. Heilprin as to the expediency of merging the Quaternary with the Tertiary. We all recognize the fact that the stream of life, like that of time, has flowed on uninterruptedly, and our subdivisions of geological history must be Matters of convention and convenience. We find, at' various places in the geological column, evidence of great physical c hanges; breaks which are not universal, but sufficiently marked 111 the structure of a continent to serve as division lines. ”

“ It is, of course, understood that the twofold division will not lecessarily interfere with a further subdivision of the measures, if our knowledge justify it; nor even with the existence of dorian, Arvonian, Huronian, Montalban, Keweenaw, Animikie, ,Grand Canon, Uinta, Llano, or any other divisions which can be proved to the satisfaction of geologists to have more than a local value. In any case, proceeding cautiously in the creation of new divisions will be more likely to result in that unification of theory throughout the world which is the principal object of the Congress. ”

“ Thus commissioned by the Geological Society, and in accordance with the terms of my appointment by the Congress of Paris, I accordingly organised a committee which immediately appointed a number of Sub-Committees "to consider the various stratigraphical subdivisions and draw up preliminary reports upon the present state of geological classification, correlation, and nomenclature, with a view to enquiring what reform is needed as regards the past and what suggestions can be offered for our guidance in the future." ”

“ Whenever any working geologist has published his views on the nomenclature of the Lower Paleozoic, his published opinions have been considered to be his final and present convictions, and have been accepted as such. It became evident, however, that a comparatively small number of American geologists would have to pronounce on the questions involved, and to render the decision which this committee should adopt for report to the London Congress. To some of these I addressed personal letters of inquiry, and I have received important communications from Professors James Hall, Albany ”

“ So in geological history we must class together those results which naturally hang together, which belong more or less to one set of conditions as shown by the similarity of the inhabitants, as well as of the country occupied and of the structures which remain: that is of the fossils, the stratigraphy and petrology of the district. Our greater divisions must be based on the more complete changes, and the smaller upon the minor fluctuations, which will be indicated only by the more sensitive and specially adapted forms of life, or by the more minute structural changes. ”