ACADEMY OP SCIENCES] GILBERT'S WORK 295 



work selected for mention, although after impartial objectivity that element is its most marked 

 characteristic. It may be added that, although this well-merited distinction from London 

 undoubtedly gave real pleasure to its recipient, it does not seem to have elated him unduly, 

 for after briefly referring to it in a letter to a relative, he added, probably more in jest than in 

 earnest: "But the thing I am proudest of is a prize I won at progressive euchre this week." 

 In 1909 he received the gold medal of the National Geographic Society of Washington "for 

 original investigation and achievements in physiographic research," and in 1910 the American 

 Geographical Society of New York, of which he had been a member since 1889, gave him its 

 Daly medal for "contributions to geographical science." 



An exceptional distinction came from the Boston Society of Natural History, when it con- 

 ferred upon him, in April, 1908, the Walker grand prize, which is "bestowed once in five years 

 on a naturalist of the United States whose services have been so preeminent that they seem to 

 the council deserving of especial recognition." In transmitting the prize, the council declared: 



The great number and remarkably high quality of your contributions to science, the thoroughness and 

 originality of your researches, and the noble generosity with which you have assisted others in their investiga- 

 tions, constitute a claim upon our consideraion so strong that we feel that all the scientific men of the country 

 will welcome the announcement of the award with cordial appreciation. 



The grand prize was a chock for $1,000; and Gilbert wrote to a friend that on seeing the 

 amount, it literally took his breath away. The letter which inclosed the check was preserved, 

 and attached to it is a memorandum, signed " G. K. G.," "that this money might not be lost to 

 science after its first duty, it was dedicated to research, and given, September, 1909, to 



, to use in the investigation of California rifts." Whether the Boston society ever knew 



and approved of this overscrupulous dedication of its prize to use by some one else than the sci- 

 entist of preeminent services whom it selected to bestow it upon does not appear. 



The last honor that Gdbert received was election in February, 1918, to foreign member- 

 ship in the Royal Society of London, an honor that is regarded by those who confer it as the 

 highest scientific distinction British science can award. It is pleasant to record that his nomi- 

 nation was presented to and, with adequate support, carried through the council of the society 

 by the same geologist who, when 30 years younger, had been so disappointed at the Bath meet- 

 ing of the British Association by Gilbert's indifference to his incurring interest in the laccolith 

 problem, but who, generously overlooking that small matter, recognized at its full value the 

 worth of Gdbert's lifelong geological work, and who, knowing that the formal announcement of 

 the election would be delayed, at once wrote an informal announcement which Gilbert received 

 about two months before his death. 



