LIBRARY 2} 



V 



THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 



MONTHLY. 



AUGUST, 1900. 



li'HYTHMS AND GEOLOGIC TIME.* 



By G. K. GILBERT, 



UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



CUSTOM dictates that in complying with the rule of the association 

 I shall address you on some subject of a scientific character. But 

 before doing so I may be permitted to pay my personal tribute to the 

 honored and cherished leader of whose loss we are so keenly sensible on 

 this occasion. His kindly personality, the charm which his earnestness 

 and sincerity gave to his conversation, the range of his accomplishment, 

 are inviting themes; but it is perhaps more fitting that I touch this 

 evening on his character as a representative president of this body. 

 The association holds a peculiar position among our scientific organiza- 

 tions of national or continental extent. Instead of narrowing its meet- 

 ings by limitations of subject matter or membership, it cultivates the 

 entire field of research and invites the interest and cooperation of all. 

 It is thus not only the integrating body for professional investigators, 

 but the bond of union between these and the great group of cultured 

 men and women — the group from whose ranks the professional guild 

 is recruited, through whom the scientific spirit is chiefly propagated, 

 and through whose interest scientific research receives its financial sup- 

 port. Its aims and form of organization recognize, what pure science 

 does not always itself recognize, that pure science is fundamentally the 

 creature and servant of the material needs of mankind, and it thus 

 stands for what might be called the human side of science. Edward 

 Orton, throughout his career as teacher and investigator, was con- 

 spicuous for his attention to the human side of science. His most ab- 



3 



*Read to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at Now York, June 

 1900, as the address of the retiring President. 



