MEMOIRS OF DECEASED FELLOWS 253 



of the so-called learned professions. In one year of teaching, as 

 principal of schools at Jackson, Mich., he paid his debt incurred 

 at college, and returned to Rochester. Until 1868 he was assistant 

 to Henry A. Ward in the preparation of natural science material, 

 and the installation of museums. Whether he had any ofifer from 

 Ward before he returned to Rochester we do not know. He 

 could not previously have been associated with Ward, who was 

 nine years his senior and was in Europe until Karl was a Sopho- 

 more or a Junior. Chester Dewey was the teacher of chemistry 

 and natural sciences until 1861, when Ward took the latter sub- 

 jects. Ward's wonderful collections were on exhibition in the 

 city in 1861, and were purchased for the college in 1862; but 

 there is no intimation that Gilbert had any connection with Ward 

 and the museum until 1863. 



As noted' above, many thousands of the labels in the University 

 Geological Museum, which contains the famous Ward Collection, 

 carry the pen-work of young Gilbert. His work on the zo51ogic 

 and geologic material of Ward's Natural Science Establishment 

 probably determined his future scientific career. There is no 

 suggestion that he previously had any particular interest in natural 

 history or earth science. 



During the five years with Ward's Natural Science Establish- 

 ment Gilbert's work in the handling of geologic material and the 

 installation of museums was a fine experience. In an appreciation 

 of E. E. Howell (in volume 23, Bulletin of the Geological Society 

 of America), Gilbert says that Ward's Establishment was Howell's 

 real school ; and after naming some of the men eminent in science 

 who had received their early training at Ward's he adds : "And in 

 addition to these the writer, who ranks himself somewhat proudly 

 as senior alumnus." He had immediate charge of the mounting 

 of the Cohoes Mastodon, in the State Museum at Albany, and his 

 first publication related to the conditions of the entombment of the 

 animal. In this article (in the 21st Annual Report on the New 

 York State Cabinet, 1871, pages 129-148), after describing the 

 geologic features, he made an estimate of the time subsequent to 

 the burial of the Mastodon, based on the recession of the walls of 

 the Mohawk channel under atmospheric erosion ; using as a chro- 

 nometer the slow growth of stunted cedars that were clinging to the 



