CHAPTER XVIII 

 A TRIP ABROAD 



SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS IN ENGLAND 



Gilbert's only visit to Europe was made in the autumn of 1888. The journey was at his 

 own expense, and was undertaken chiefly for the purpose of attending the Fourth International 

 Geological Congress in London. He sailed from New York, in company with several other 

 American scientists, on the City of Berlin, August 24, and reached Liverpool on September 3; 

 return was made two months later. He called the journey "a jolly trip." On landing Gilbert 

 went, according to the record in his diary, at once to Bath and there attended a meeting of the 

 British Association for the Advancement of. Science, September 4 to 14, after which a week 

 end was spent at "Rushmore," the country seat of General Pitt Rivers. Here two pages of 

 the diary, covering the days from September 15 to 18, appear to have been skipped by accident, 

 thus making the following entries four days late; for according to his record London was not 

 reached until September 21, whereas according to the published proceedings of the congress 

 he was probably there on the 17th and surely on the 18th. Again, three extra days appear 

 to be credited to London at the end of the congress, so that the date of setting out on a post- 

 congress excursion is a whole week too late. The error thus introduced appears to be continued 

 to the end of his stay abroad; yet he did not miss his steamer for the return voyage, although 

 his record of the date of sailing, November 7, should have been October 31. It would seem, 

 therefore, that he must have kept account of his time by the weeks as they passed instead of by 

 the day of the month in the diary. The diary record shows only 4 days instead of 11 for the 

 return voyage, yet no correction of the error is entered even there. In the following transcript, 

 the corrected dates are given. 



Gilbert's first stay in London was during the session of the geological congress from Sep- 

 tember 17 to 22. He then took part in an excursion to the Isle of Wight, September 22 to 29, 

 and visited the office of the ordnance survey at Southampton on the way, after which he 

 returned to London again, crossed the Channel and spent three days, October 1 to 3, in Paris. 

 On returning, 2 days were given to London, 7 to Ireland and 10 to Scotland. London was 

 reached for the fourth time, October 25 to 27, and Oxford for the first time, October 28 to 31. 

 Liverpool was left on the City of Chicago, November 1, and New York was reached November 11. 

 It is interesting to note the cost of this trip: Passage out and back, $110; two months in Great 

 Britain, including three days in France, $304; purchases, $124.40; total, $538.40. In view 

 of the distances covered during the 58 days ashore, an average of but little over $5 a day for 

 traveling suggests that expenses were prudently guarded. Ten days as a guest of the city 

 of Bath and a week end at a country house may have aided in keeping expenditures down; 

 but the acceptance of the latter form of hospitality is not always consistent with economy. 



Gilbert made no communication to the geological section of the Bath meeting, but spoke 

 on the topographic map of the United States, the first sheets of which were then about to be 

 issued by our national Geological Survey, before the geographical section; for unlike its 

 American counterpart, the British association has long had enough travelers, explorers, geode- 

 sists, and hydrographers among its members for them to have, with the occasional addition of 

 a geographer, a section all to themselves. He was much pleased with the general character 

 of the meeting and his presence appears to have given, with perhaps one exception, equal 

 pleasure to those whom he met. One geologist still recalls that he was strongly impressed 

 with the fine face of the American as he sat attentively listening to the proceedings of a sectional 

 session. Another tells that the visitor was welcomed as one of the most distinguished of 

 .American geologists, and looked upon as a representative of the British race in America, a 

 link between the two countries, and was therefore received as "one of the family." But a 



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