170 GROVE KARL GILBERT— DAVIS [M ™ ois \yo™xi, 



What is here called "abuse" was well enough when it was performed by men of Gilbert's 

 even temperament, but when undertaken by men of a more retaliatory disposition it may 

 possibly have sometimes led to excess. 



Criticisms of survey publications by outsiders were also referred to Gilbert to decide if 

 comment or reply were desirable. In one such case, when a geologist of foreign birth, but long 

 resident in the United States, complained that his early work had been disregarded in a survey 

 bulletin, Gilbert took the complainant's side in discussing the matter with the authors of the 

 bulletin and advised them to be more careful in future to give full credit to their predecessors; 

 but to the complainant he wrote, after acknowledging the bulletin's deficiency, in a somewhat 

 different tone: 



In my opinion it makes little difference to the scientific world by whom discoveries are made, and I regard 

 public discussion of questions of authorship and priority as a burden to the literature of science, occupying 

 space and costing energy which could be better devoted. In my own writings I endeavor to give credit to those 

 whose ideas and work I use, but I do not demand that others shall treat my work in the same way, and I do 

 not propose ever to make reclamation of ideas borrowed or observations duplicated by others. 



He admitted to friends that some might think his impersonal attitude "cold and unfeel- 

 ing, " and it is probable that most of his colleagues would regard that part of it which renounced 

 reclamation of ideas borrowed as unattainable even if desirable; but the complainant must 

 have regarded his attitude as incomprehensible. Shortly after Gilbert dispatched this letter 

 he sent another to a young American geologist, expressing satisfaction that he was not "fickle 

 of purpose or the possessor of sensitive intellectual corns, such as make the lives of some scien- 

 tific men burdens to themselves and their friends." It would seem as if the second of these 

 two letters had been inspired by the first. 



Although Gilbert was hearty in commending essays and reports that he approved, he did 

 not hesitate to pronounce an unfavorable opinion on a manuscript if his judgment condemned 

 it. Of an essay submitted by a nonmember of the survey for official approval he wrote to the 

 director: 



Its author is a man with a theory, who seeks facts to support it and tries to explain away facts which stand 

 in the way. His mental attitude is unscientific. 



On another manuscript he reported even more severely: 



It contains very little new information. Its contribution to the subject, if set by itself, would readily be 

 contained on a single page. I will not mention certain defects of style, as these would be eliminated by editorial 

 revision; but it is my judgment that the publication of so large an amount of compiled material with so small 

 a measure of local and novel information would excite an amount of derision which the Survey can ill afford. 

 I therefore recommend that the MS receive such disposition as will effectively prevent the possibility of its 

 publication. 



STANDARD GEOLOGICAL MAPS: 1887-1889 



No part of Gilbert's work, first as unofficial adviser to Powell and later as his chief 

 geologist, was of greater import than that concerned with the development and adoption of a 

 carefully considered scheme for the preparation of the geological maps in which so large a share 

 of the labors of the survey culminates. It involved the standardization of many matters 

 regarding which a great diversity of practice had grown up to meet the various needs of State 

 surveys, yet regarding which a comprehensive and long-lasting uniformity was manifestly 

 necessary for the needs of the national survey. The nature of the areal subdivisions to be 

 traced in the field, the systematic terminology by which the subdivisions should be named, the 

 colors by which they should be represented on maps, and the texts by which they should be 

 described and explained in the geologic folios — all these fundamental matters had to be defined 

 in a manner that should, if possible, enjoy a long-continued acceptance by the geologists of the 

 country; and various practical problems in the way of map making had to be solved at the 

 same time. Powell was indeed fortunate to have a man of Gilbert's knowledge and tempera- 

 ment to take charge of this large and difficult piece of work. The general satisfaction that is 

 still felt in the style of the folios, after 30 years of trial, is good testimony to the wisdom shown 

 in formulating the plan of their publication. 



