200 GROVE KARL GILBERT— DAVIS [MeM0IRS [vol TI xxi; 



to represent the survey as a member of a committee, appointed by the International Geological 

 Congress of 1891, to prepare a "Bibliography of geological bibliographies," his share being 

 North America. After the completion of this compilation he wrote of it : 



When a cooperative work of such magnitude is carried to a successful conclusion there is usually some 

 one individual to whose skill and energy the success is due, and in this instance that person was M. Emm. de 

 Margerie of Paris, the secretary of the committee. 



It must have been, in part at least, because of Gilbert's repeated contacts with the art 

 of bookmaking that he came to be critically appreciative of what makes a good book. His 

 comments were of the pointed kind that give great pleasure to the author or the artist whose 

 painstaking work is so often taken as a matter of course by the casual reader. Thus he wrote 

 of one book: 



The cuts are not only good, but uniformly and harmoniously good. 



He also came to have definite views as to how certain parts of the bookmaking art should 

 be practised; for he was one of those who believed that a book should be so constructed that its 

 contents shall be clearly indicated, not only on its cover and in its table of contents, but also 

 by its page headings. He stated his opinion on this subject clearly in 1892, when acknowledg- 

 ing the receipt of a large volume from one of his correspondents: 



I received the Society's quarto report day before yesterday and came near laying it on the wrong 



pile under the impression that it contained routine matter only. . . . The book has the same difficulty 



as the only more so. It has a series of distinct essays with no change of page heading, and it has no 



table of contents. It thus requires the possible reader to turn the pages and dip into them in order to learn 

 the scope of the book. It is a shame to find fault with a work in which I expect to find a feast when I get at 

 it — but you see the defects of the husk came near keeping me from the kernel. 



If he had had as much experience with European scientific publications as with American, 

 the antiquated methods, long maintained by some overseas societies for concealing the 

 contents of their proceedings, might have led him to even more emphatic expression of 

 discontent: 



A GENEROUS TRAIT OF GILBERT'S CHARACTER 



The preceding notes on Gilbert's own literary work may serve to introduce mention of a 

 generous trait in his nature which led him to express interest in the literary work of others, 

 especially in that of his juniors, by writing them letters showing his appreciation of their pro- 

 duct. Some of those juniors, now seniors themselves, vividly recall the pleasure and encourage- 

 ment that such letters gave them. Thus, after a first effort in scientific reviewing, a young 

 teacher received from- Gilbert in 1891 and still treasures the following hearty recognition of his 

 work: 



I write to express my appreciation and thanks for your abstract of the climatic portion of my Bonneville 

 report. It is but rarely that an author's work receives so appreciative a notice and I congratulate myself especi- 

 ally on the good hands in which I fell. Permit me to congratulate you also on the skill with which you have set 

 forth the salient features. In case you have not a copy of the volume it will give me great pleasure to send 

 you one. 



Similarly, a letter written in 1893 to the young author of an essay on the physical features 

 of a Southern State closed as follows : 



I beg to congratulate you on the clearness and skill with which you have presented the matter, on the care 

 with which you have assigned relative weights to your tentative and more mature conclusions, and on the emi- 

 nent courtesy with which you have treated the work of others in a district where controversy seems to be spon- 

 taneous. 



To correspondents with whom Gilbert was on more familiar terms, he wrote in a less formal 

 but equally acceptable manner; thus the author of a report on which much study had been 

 compressed into small compass received a terse message on a single page of note paper: 



You have done a good work well. Nothing could better conduce to the making of geology interesting, or 

 to the expansion of good governmental work. You're a brick. 



One who did not know Gilbert might think that he was seeking advantage or favor in thus 

 according praise; but such was not the case in the least. His frank expressions were doubtless 



