Under the provisions of an executive order issued on the fourth of September last, our own Government has virtually adopted the European system in the treatment of foreign names, thus bringing us in accord with the principal nations upon a most important subject to students and geographers the world over. The executive order constitutes a board composed of ten representatives from different departments and bureaus of the Government service, to which all questions relating to the work of the board that may arise in the departments are to be referred, and requires all persons in the Government service to respect the decisions that may be rendered. The board in its first bulletin, recently issued, has announced its adoption of the English system for the treatment of foreign names and transliteration into Roman characters, and has presented principles to guide in reaching decisions affecting home names. These principles will doubtless be added to as new questions arise, so that at no very distant day we may see formulated a set of rules that will be instructive as well as useful in their application. The first bulletin seems to have been received favorably, and we may hope, as the work of the board advances and the importance of the subject is more generally realized, that it will gain the hearty endorsement of the public and a support that must largely increase the usefulness of its labors. * * * * * In conclusion, permit me to congratulate the society upon its first attempt at scientific exploration in the field. The Mount St. Elias expedition, under the leadership of Mr. I. C. Russell, with Mr. Mark B. Kerr as topographer, left Seattle, Washington, in June last, and after spending more than two months on the mountain sides, one-half their time above the snow line, have {40} returned with notes, specimens, and data of the greatest interest. The topography was sketched over an area of about one thousand square miles, and includes the determination of the geographical position and elevation of Mount St. Elias and many neighboring peaks. Mount St. Elias is indicated to be not so high by some 4,000 feet as the heretofore accepted elevation, 19,500 feet. The difficulties attending the determination of the height of this mountain are so great that the range between the extreme elevations that have been given by different explorers is nearly 6,000 feet. This is believed to be the first height for it that has been derived from a carefully measured base, and it therefore should receive great weight. But I regret to say that in the chain of triangles connecting with the top of the mountain, the difficulty of placing well-conditioned triangles seems to have been so great that the observers were forced to accept very small included angles, which necessarily casts a doubt upon the resulting distances. We must therefore accept the new elevation with caution until it is verified by further observations.