|Abstract:||The 5th International Geological Congress (IGC), the
initial meeting in North America, was the first of the three
IGCs that have been held in the United States of America (USA).
Of the 538 registrants alive when the 5th IGC convened in
Washington, 251 persons, representing fifteen countries,
actually attended the meeting. These participants included 173
people from the USA, of whom forty-two represented the US
Geological Survey (USGS). Fourteen of the US State geological
surveys sent representatives to Washington. Eight participants
came from other countries in the Western Hemisphere - Canada
(3), Chile (1), Mexico (3), and Peru (1). The sixty-six European
geologists and naturalists at the 5th IGC represented Austro-
Hungary (3), Belgium (3), Britain (12), France (7), Germany
(23), Norway (1), Romania (3), Russia (8), Sweden (4), and
Switzerland (2). The USGS and the Columbian College (now the
George Washington University) acted as the principal hosts. The
American Association for the Advancement o