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1897.] The Geological Congress in Russia. 951

THE GEOLOGICAL CONGRESS IN RUSSIA.

By Charles Palache.

The Seventh International Geological Congress assembled
in St. Petersburg during the first week of September, 1897.
The Congress was notable among the meetings of this organ-
ization for the large number in attendance. It will certainly
be memorable, to such of its members as took part in them,
for the extent and interest of the excursions planned in con

952 The American Naturalist. [November,

nection with it and for the warm-hearted hospitality tendered
them in every part of the broad empire which they visited.

The program of excursions, issued early in the year by the
Committee of Organization, was carried out in all its essential
details. Moscow was the starting point of the first excursion
to the Urals preliminary to the Congress, and consequently it
was that city which most of the excursionists made their first
objective point on entering the country. We found wherever
we crossed the border that our membership tickets made the
passage through the Custom House easy, although they did
not replace our passports which we had often to show. Our
railroad passes too, were accepted without question, and the
most courteous treatment greeted us on every hand.

At Moscow we found the Bureau of tlie Congress established
in the halls of the University, and here and in the parlors of
the Continental Hotel, frequent gatherings of the excursionists
took place during the three days we were in the city. The
excursions in the vicinity of Moscow were of moderate inter-
est geologically, the greatest attaching to that which visited
the richly fossiliferous middle Carboniferous beds of Miatch-
kowo on the bank of the Moskwa Kiver. On the other hand,
the city itself with its wholly oriental character in architecture,
coloring and street life, offered more than enough attractions
to occupy the time at our disposal, and there were doubtless
few who did not regret leaving this, the centre and fountain-
head of the Russian national life.

About one hundred and thirty-five persons took part in the
Ural excursion, of whom nine were ladies. A special train of
thirteen cars was our means of transport and place of abode
for the first three weeks of the trip, while a restaurant train of
box cars, provided with tables and cliairs, preceded us and
furnished forth our meals. If there were numerous discom-
forts associated with this style of living, one could not but re-
member that there was no precedent for or experience of such
an excursion as ours in the remote regions which we visited,
and criticism was disarmed by the conditions.

From day to day excursions of various kinds were made
along or away from the general line of the railroad which was

1897,] The Geological Congress in Russia. 953

our base of operations. A steamer trip from Samara, on the
Volga — a walk along the railroad, fifteen miles from Acha to
Miniar, giving a fine section of the Carboniferous and Devonain
strata — a two day's wagon trip to th.e iron mines (limonite) of
Bakal — a visit to the foundry at Simsk and its charming en-
virons— such were a few of the earlier excursions which, be-
sides showing interesting geological sections, gave us a good
opportunity to become acquainted with the customs and mode
of living of the people of the region. And at every mine and
foundry, in many of the towns and even at the railway sta-
tions, we found the heartiest welcome awaiting us, great con-
courses of people who looked upon us with undisguised curios-
ity but evident good will, receptions by the local authorities,
and numerous lunches and banquets of the most lavish de-
scription. It is difficult indeed, to express the feeling of grow-
ing wonder which all shared at the continuous ovation that
greeted us on all sides as we made our progress through these
mountainous regions, seemingly so little calculated to afford
such entertainment as we found. Still, harsh as it may seem
to criticise in such a case, it must be confessed that there was
too large a share of our time devoted to social functions, and
we might have seen many additional localities of geologic
interest had we not been compelled by our kind hosts to
arrange our movements in accordance with their too frequent
hospitalities.

The guide book of the excursions was prepared in the form
of separate pamphlets for various localities or regions, written
by the men who were best acquainted in each and who were
to be our leaders. The descriptions were generally good,
though often lacking in details ; the sections and illustrations
were satisfactory, though the mine sections rarely corresponded
with the visible exposures. The accompanying geological
map of Russia, scale 1:6,300,000, reduced from the larger map
published by the Geological Committee in 1892, scale 1:2,520,000
served as a very convenient means of orientation.

In the region between Moscow and Oufa where our leader
was Nikitin, we saw horizontal or slightly disturbed strata
ranjiinfi: from Cretaceous downward to middle Carboniferous.

954 The American Naturalist. [November,

At Oufa, at the foot of the Ural Mountains, we entered a zone
of openly folded paleozoic rocks including the Devonian
series, the folds becoming rapidly more compressed and the
disturbances greater as we advanced into the mountains. At
Slatoust we encountered the first crystalline schists, considered
by Tschernyscheff our leader, on stratigraphic evidence which
but few of the party considered conclusive, to be metamorphic
Devonian.

Within this band of schists or on its borders, is a group of
mineral localities which have produced many interesting and
beautiful specimens obtained by the efforts of many engineers
of the Russian Mining Bureau through a long series of years,
and now in large part preserved in the cabinet of the Mining
Academy in St. Petersburg. These minerals all appear to be
contact products between clay slates and limestones and mas-
sive eruptive rocks of the character of diorite or peridotite.
One of the best known and most typical of these occurrences
is the Achmatoff mine. Here, on a more or less chloritic
matrix, were found beautiful crystallizations of garnet, epi-
dote, pyroxene, vesuvianite, such titamium minerals as perof-
skite, titanite and ilmenite, zircon, apatite and various mem-
bers of the chlorite group.

Passing eastward still across the Ural divide, we entered a
region of gneisses and granitic rocks. The day spent at
Miass, in the Ilmen Mountains, under the joint leadership of
Karpinsky and Arzruni, was replete with interest. The Ilmen
Mountains are a subordinate range of the Ural chain composed
largely of eleolite-syenite, classical under Gustav Rose's name
of miasclte. This rock is well exposed, is rich in a variety of
minerals and offers numerous interesting problems to the pet-
rographer. The most notable minerals here collected, chiefly
from the pegmatitic facies of the rock, were nepheline, can-
crinite and sodalite, zircon, apatite, ilmenite and biotite in
huge plates. In the pegmatite veins traversing the neighbor-
ing gneiss and granite, we saw a very different group of min-
erals including albite and microcline, topaz, zircon and cuclase
and samarskite, pyrochlor and other rare earth minerals.

1897.] The Geological Congress in Russia. 955

At Miass. also, was the first of the gold placers which are
worked, by what seemed crude and primitive methods, in
various parts of the Urals.

At Tcheliabinsk, the eastern limit of our excursion, as well
as at Beresof, near Ekaterinburg, we saw gold-bearing quartz
veins, tlie former only recently explored, the latter with ex-
tensive workings dating back many j^ears.

At Ekaterinburg, the principal city of the Ural region, we
we were hospitably entertained by the Ural Society for Nat-
ural Science, and were shown an interesting exhibit of the
products of numerous local establishments for the cutting of
gems and semi-precious stones.

Continuing northward our next halt was in the busy min-
ing town of Njni-Taghilsk. Within this district are the exten-
sive iron mines (magnetite) of Wyssokaia and Blagodat ; the
copper mine of Mednoroudiansk, famous for its former pro-
duction of the malachite so prized in Russian decoration;
largely worked deposits of manganese ore, and the platinum
placers at Platina. This last metal appears to occur.in the
peridotitic rocks which constitute the bed rock of the region ;
their decomposition sets it free, so that it may be won by
placer washing.

Again crossing the water-shed of the Urals and descending
rapidly to the plain we reached Perm on the Kama River,
where we left our train for a roomy and comfortable steamer
on which for three days we floated down the stream to its con-
fluence with the Volga. Numerous excursions on the banks
made us acquainted with the Permian series, including the
upper, Permo-triassic division, the so-called " etage tartarien."
Turning up the Volga we halted at the old tartar city of
Kazan, where we were entertained by the university and later
by the city. And the end of the fourth day from Perm found
us at Njni-Novgorod. A day was spent here seeing the fair,
and then we took train directly for St. Petersburg, where we
found the quarters previously assigned us in the many hotels
of the city or in the large dormitory of the university, where
some fifty of the members were located. The hundred and
twenty members of the Finland excursion reached St. Peters-

956 • The American Naturalist. [November,

burg the same morning (August 28th) by steamer, reporting a
most interesting week's trip, during which they had enjoyed
quite as lavish hospitality as had been the lot of those in the
Urals. They were under the guidance of Sederholm, and saw
much glacial geology in addition to the old crystalline forma-
tions of western and southern Finland.

The formal opening of the Congress took place the afternoon
of Sunday, August 29th, in the hall of the Zoological Institute
of the University, which was well filled by a large and brilliant
audience. The Honorary President of the Congress, the Grand
Duke Constantino Constantinovitch, presided and opened the
session with an address of welcome. It was followed by sim-
ilar addresses by the Princess of Oldenburg, President of the
Imperial Society of Mineralogy, and by the Minister of Agri-
culture, Ermoloft'. Renevier, President of the preceding Con-
gress, announced the officers named by the council, the Amer-
ican Vice-Presidents being Marsh, Emerson, Emmons and
Frazer. The address of the President, Karpinsky, was chiefly
occupied with a brief statement of the questions to come before
the Congress, and after a resume by TschernyschefF, Secretary-
General, of the work of the Committee of Organization in ar-
ranging for the Congress and excursions, the session came to a
close.

Of the eight hundred and fifty names which appeared in
the official list of the members of the Congress, upwards of
six hundred were recorded as in attendance. Despite this
very large membership the actual number at the meetings was
very small, rarely more than one hundred being present.
But the adjoining hall where numerous exhibits were arranged
was always occupied by a throng of members, showing very
clearly that here as generally in such meetings, it is the per-
sonal intercourse that is desired by the members rather than
the formal discussions.

The subjects which it was desired to have specially brought
before this Congress, as announced in an early circular of tlie
Committee of Organization and as stated in the President's
address, were as follows :

1. Shall stratigraj)hic nomenclature be based upon an arti-
ficial or upon a natural classification.

1897.] The Geological Congress in Russia. 957

2. Establishment of rules governing introduction of new
terms in stratigraphic nomenclature.

3. Adoption of definite principles of classification of rocks
and of petrographic nomenclature.

The discussion of the first question showed clearly the opin-
ion of most of the geologists present that the accepted artificial
classification was the only admissable one, its abandonment
for what must necessarily as yet be a somewhat vague and ill-
defined substitute, being certain to result only in a state of
confusion in the science.

Discussion of the second proposition centered upon papers
presented at an early meeting by Freeh, Breslau, Ueber Ab-
grenzungund Benennungder geologischen Schichtengruppen,
and by Bittner, Vienna, Vorschlage fiir eine Normiring der
Reglen der stratigraphischen Nomenclatur.

The propositions of these writers as modified and accepted
by the Congress amounted to little more than a formal state-
ment of the ordinary practice of geologists with regard to new
names. They were in brief as follows :

1. Introduction of a new stratigraphic term into the inter-
national nomenclature, should be based only on a well deter-
mined and peremptory scientific necessity, should be accom-
panied by full description bf deposits to which it is applied,
and should be founded on facts observed on more than a sin-
gle exposure.

2. A name applied to any deposit in a definite way is not to
be used in another sense.

3. Date of publication determines priority of terms.

4. In giving new names to minuter stratigraphic subdivis-
ions, it is desirable to take paleontological characteristics as a
base. Geographic names should only be used in default of
the former, or for series of importance containing numerous
paleontological horizons.

5. Names etymologically false or badly formed are to be re-
jected or corrected.

One afternoon meeting was devoted to subjects of petro-
graphic character, and in order to facilitate discussion of the
general questions in that department, a special meeting of pet-

958 The American Naturalist. [November,

rographers, to the number of over fifty, was held, Zirkel presid-
ing. The discussions were animated, centering upon classifi-
cation, but resulted in the following almost unanimous expres-
sion of opinion, which was presented through the council to
the Congress:

" It is not desirable, in view of the present rapid develop-
ment of the science of petrography, to attempt to establish
definite principles of classification of rocks by a resolution of
the Congress.

" To attain the simplification of petrographic nomenclature
demanded by geologists, it is necessary to define with greater
precision than has yet been done such general terms as are
required in geological mapping."

A resolution presented by Brogger expressed the view that
it was desirable and probably practical to establish a interna-
tional journal of petrography devoted chiefly to reviews and
abstracts of the current literature. This resolution excited
considerable debate, but was finally adopted and transmitted
to the Congress with the request that a committee be appointed
to ascertain the feasibility of the plan. The committee named
consists of fifteen men, the American members being Iddings
and Pirsson.

Papers of interest presented in this department W'Cre by
Walter, Jena, Versuch einer Classification der Gesteine auf
Grund der vergleichenden Lithogenie, and by Loewinson-Les-
sing, Dorpat, Note sur la Classification et la Nomenclature des
Roches Eruptives.

Walter attempts a general classification, his basis being the
recognition of primary and of secondary characters in rocks,
of which the first alone determines the place in the system.
Thus every metamorphic rock, however altered by " secondary
characters," is grouped under the rock from which it is derived.
He makes four main groups, Mechanical, Chemical, Organic
and Volcanic Rocks.

Loewinson-Lessing bases his classification of the eruptive
rocks wholly on their chemical composition, expressed in terms
of the " oxygen equivalent," and of the ])roportions of the
various oxides.

1897.] The Oeological Congress in Russia. 959

The Congress endorsed strongly a proposition by Androus-
sofF, Dorpat, for the establishment of an International Floating
Institute, or laboratory, for the study of Oceanography, to be
supported by various Governments in place of the isolated ex-
peditions sent out for this purpose from time to time by differ-
ent ones.

The invitation of the French geologists to hold the next ses-
sion of the Congress in Paris in 1900 was accepted. A bulle-
tin was distributed showing the proposed excursions to Brit-
tany, to Normandy, and, after the session, to the Central Pla-
teau and the French Alps.

A sad incident of the Congress was the sudden death in St.
Petersburg of one of its members, SpendiarofF, Dorpat, who
had taken part in the Ural excursion and was to have been a
leader during a part of the Caucasus excursion. At the clos-
ing session of the Congress it was announced that the father of
the deceased had presented a sum of money to commemorate his
son, the interest to be awarded as a prize for the best paper on
a stated subject at successive meetings of the Congress.

Numerous festivities and excursions were a part of the
week's program at St. Petersburg. The Tsar received in
audience at his palace of Peterhof, a small number of the more
distinguished representatives of each country. At a later day,
but in his absence, the whole Congress visited the palace and
beautiful grounds, journejang down the harbor by steamer
and enjoying a luncheon in the magnificient imperial dining
hall.

Another day was devoted to a visit to the cataract of Imatra
in Finland, a hundred miles north of St. Petersburg, where a
sumptuous banquet was served in a pavilion erected for the
purpose on the edge of the thundering torrent.

Among the entertainments in St. Petersburg, the most nota-
ble were the reception by the Grand Duke Constantine at his
palace and that by the Mayor and city officials at the City
Hall. Many pleasant reunions took place at the German Club
which was placed at the disposal of the members during the
session. The museums and collections of the city were made
easy of access through special open hours, and their manifold

9.6,0 The American Naturalist. [November,

attractions doubtless were to blame for the frequently slim
attendance at the meetings.

The close of the session was marked by the departure of a
large proportion of the members for Moscow, the starting
point of the three excursions which journeyed by different
routes toward the Caucasus and the Crimea. Upward of four
hundred people participated in these excursions which pro-
mised so many and so varied interests.

Reprinted from The American Naturalist, November, 1897.

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