Page:Men of Mark in America vol 1.djvu/478

368 Dr. Gilbert is a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity. He was president of the American Society of Naturalists, 1885-86; president of the Philosophical Society of Washington; of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and its vice-president in 1887; a member of the National Academy of Science, 1883; of the Washington Academy of Science; the American Geological Society, and president of the society in 1892; and of the Cosmos club of Washington, District of Columbia, and its president in 1894. In 1866 and 1868 he voted the Republican ticket, but has not since been identified with a party. Outside of geologic literature he has found " Darwin's writings especially helpful, as contagious examples of the spirit and method of research." In boyhood he was fond of rowing and of the game of chess; in middle-life of various games of cards, and more lately of billiards. He says, "at graduation my preference was for mathematical work; but circumstances turned me toward physical sciences, and among them I made selection of geology." His own private study and contact with men in active life seem to him the most important factors in his success.

His range of subjects in writing is large, though all bear on physical science. His subjects are: Dynamic geology, physical geography, an investigation of the conditions of irrigation in Utah and Arizona, geologic correlation, surveying as it is related to geology, climatology, and the geology of the moon. His books are : "Geology of the Henry Mountains," 1877, Powell Survey; "Lake Bonneville," 1890, United States Geological Survey; "Introduction to Physical Geography," joint author with A. P. Brigham, 1902; "Teachers' Guide, and Laboratory Exercises," to accompany the same (jointly with A. P. Brigham) 1903. Other writings, constituting parts of volumes, aggregate twice as much more. They pertain chiefly to dynamic geology and physical geography, and have been published mainly in government reports and scientific journals. Certain of these papers treat of land sculpture by streams; wind erosion; laccoliths; glaciers of Alaska; origin of the features of the moon's surface; the source of hypotheses; earth movements in the Great Lakes region, etc.

Professor Gilbert says, "my life has not been one of ambition, with a definite grand end in view. I have rather followed the line of least resistance, with love for research as one of the conditions. Finding now that I have many incomplete undertakings, so many