MEMORIAL OF (J. K. OILBEKT '29' 



that aclvi'iituro reveals the substantial part played by Gilbert and the 

 respect wliicli his skill as well as his spirit commanded. 



Karl Gilbert graduated from the l\ochester High School in LSoS,. 

 at the age of 15. "He is remembered as a (piiet, modest boy with 

 pleasant manners, very kindly disposition, and of very even temper.'' - 



From the high school he entered the University of Rochester, gradu- 

 ating with the degree of A. B. in 1862, at the age of 19. 



The college work involved sacrifice on the part both of the boy and 

 his family. He had to go rather shabbily dressed, was unable to join- 

 much in the social life that offered, and yet found himself in debt u})on 

 graduation. He is reported by his classmate, Dr. Aaron Clark, to have 

 been quiet and studious, one who did well whatever he had to do, but 

 as especially good in mathematics and Greek. Indeed, he was selected 

 to deliver the Greek oration at commencement. His college record indi- 

 cates a preponderance of Greek, Latin, and mathematics, with some 

 English and a very minor proportion of science. There was but one 

 term of geology, one of chemistry, one of astronomy, and two of zoology. 

 In this curriculum, typical of the arts courses of the day, there is natu- 

 rally little indicative of the future bent of the man. But mathematics- 

 appealed even then to his love of precise methods and he never lost liis- 

 inteiest in problems of that type. He himself has stated that during 

 his college career he was much interested in mathematics and engineer- 

 ing, but not particularly interested in geology.^ 



Before Gilbert graduated, Henry A. Ward became professor of geology 

 and natural history at Rochester and there founded that unique institu- 

 tion known as Cosmos Hall. This was an event of great interest to all' 

 of the students, but especially to Gilbert, and was destined to become an 

 important factor in his career. 



After graduation, Gilbert went to Jackson, Michigan, where he at- 

 tempted to teach in order to pay off his college debt; but he was neither 

 happy nor successful as a teacher, not being well equipped tempera- 

 mentally to deal with those unruly pupils, indifferent to study, who 

 make up a proportion of the students in every public school. So ho 

 gave up the school when the term was but two-thirds coiu))l('ted aiu] 

 icturncd to Rochester. There, soon afterward, ho ontorod Cosiikx Hall, 

 where he remained until lio joined the Oliio Survey, under Dr. Xowberry, 

 on Julv 1, 18G9. 



' H. L. Falrchlld : firowc Kail <^;illKrf. I'roc.cciUni^H of the Itoclicster Academy of" 

 Hclences. volume ,'». lOUt. 



'Personal commnnication to .F. I*. Hiiw.-ilda. 



