264 GROVE KARL GILBERT— DAVIS [M " MOIE8 t v<£S 



One whose acquaintance with him extended over many years of his sojourn in California 

 as woll as in Washington, writes : 



I never heard from him one arrogant opinion or the least indulgence in petty personalities. . . . Whatever 

 the issue he brought to it the qualities and the temper which we have learned to connect with the man of science 

 at his best — the entirely open mind, with detachment and caution, curious but not expecting overmuch, and 

 shy of enthusiasms. ... It was perhaps because of his admirable reticence that conversation with him had 

 its charm and its authority. 



In spite of his high scientific rank his bearing was marked by a certain humility, and his 

 remarks were characterized by a mental honesty that gained for him a deep and genuine 

 respect. His manner was always serene, his intercourse pleasantly familiar without being too 

 free. He gave many of his recreation hours to games, especially to billiards and dominoes; 

 he still preserved a lively sense of fun, and could be jovial as well as serious. But in this period 

 he seemed to avoid the discussion of geological problems, as if his brain were sufficiently exer- 

 cised in that direction by his own work; indeed he took care not to concentrate his mind too 

 much upon his own subjects and thus kept himself as a rule in remarkably good health; but he 

 enjoyed talking with his associates on many subjects other than his own, and especially on 

 social questions, regarding which he expressed regret that his interest had not been aroused until 

 late in life. 



Little wonder that the friendships created in the Faculty Club were warm and enduring, 

 or that its members should join in writing some years later one of the many letters of congratu- 

 lation, on the seventy-fifth birthday that he so nearly reached : 



You are an integral part of the Club. You were our first honorary member. Your photograph hangs on 

 our walls. Your room is always waiting for you. When your duties call you away we miss your genial com- 

 pany, and we look forward to the time when you will rejoin us. 



Although not a sportsman he had a favorite fish story, which he would occasionally tell in 

 condensed form when it seemed to him that others were using the old English weapon too 

 freely. 



A man once caught an unusually fine trout, carried him home alive and kept him in a pool; fed him by hand 

 till he was tame; then lifted him out of water daily for longer and longer periods. The trout seemed to like it, 

 and learned to follow his master by wriggling along on the ground. But [this with pathos] he came to a sad end: 

 tried one day to follow his master on a narrow board over a creek; wriggled too much, fell off the board and was 

 drowned. 



The report on his hydraulic experiments conducted at Berkeley was published by the 

 national survey in 1914, under the title of "The transportation of debris by running water," 

 as Professional Paper No. 86; it preceded the report on the field work, which appeared in 1917, as 

 "Hydraulic-mining debris in the Sierra Nevada," in Professional Paper No. 105. In the mean- 

 time an inquiry into the structural relations of the California earthquake of 1906 diverted his 

 attention for a time, and a serious illness in 1909 interrupted and for a year or more threatened 

 the completion of his debris studies. After a section on his illness, return will be made to the 

 two professional papers in the next chapter. 



ILLNESS OF 1909-10 



While Gilbert was at Berkeley in the spring of 1909 he became seriously ill. Brief notes of 

 his failing condition were entered in his diary. March 13: "A billiard game with . . . inter- 

 rupted by head trouble." March 29: "Appreciable muscular change in left hand." April 1: 

 "Numbness in left leg." In the meantime he had consulted a physician, and on March 30 he 

 wrote, in spite of his somewhat alarming symptoms, a singularly calm and dispassionate state- 

 ment of his case to an official of the national survey in Washington : 



It is proper that you should be informed of a new factor which may affect my work in important ways. 

 For three weeks my health has been impaired in such a way as to lower my capacity for work of any kind. 

 While my physician's tone is optimistic, my own impression is that my general physical condition is permanently 

 lowered and that any later change will not be in the way of improvement. Whether or not my fears are well 

 grounded, the situation seems to demand that I limit my attention to one or two of the many subjects that interest 

 and tempt me. I plan to write a report on the debris problem this summer. . . . The one other matter that I 

 do not relinquish is the preparation of an address to be read to the Geological Society of America next winter. 



