liv PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, [vol. lxxv, 



sculpture, which represented an important advance at that time,, 

 and has been the basis of later developments. 



Meanwhile Gilbert had joined the newly-established United 

 States Geological Survey, and was engaged in tracing the evidences 

 o£ the former extension of the Great Salt Lake. The results of 

 this work were published in part in 1882, and more fully in 1890 

 in the Monograph on ' Lake Bonneville.' Here he set forth a 

 fascinating history of the Pleistocene climate and hydrography of 

 the Great Basin, and further discussed the subsequent deformation! 

 of the old shore-levels as throwing light on the problem of iso- 

 static readjustment in the Earth's crust. From this he passed to- 

 other areas of the United States, on each of which he has left his 

 mark. Of especial value are his investigations of the structure of* 

 the Great Lakes, the history of the Niagara River, and the reces- 

 sion of the Falls. He made important contributions to the study 

 of glaciation and glacial erosion, especially in connexion with the 

 Harriman Alaska Expedition. Other subjects which engaged his 

 attention are earthquakes and earthquake-prediction, the variation 

 of gravity, and the estimation of geological time. 



Gilbert's published works, characterized always by a remarkable 

 breadth of view and clearness of treatment, cover a large part of 

 physical geology. Nor does a list of his actual researches adequately 

 represent his services to geological science. His personal character r 

 his single-minded enthusiasm, and his power of grasping the 

 salient features of a problem reacted powerfully upon others. In 

 particular, the addresses which he delivered from time to time as 

 President of various societies were remarkably suggestive and 

 inspiring, and his influence was by no means confined to his own 

 country. 



Gilbert was elected a Foreign Correspondent of this Society 

 in 1889, and a Foreign Member in 1895. He died at Rochester 

 (N.Y.) on May 1st, 1918, approaching his 75th birthday. [A. H.] 



Charles Richard Van Hise was born on May 29th, 1857, at 

 Fulton in Wisconsin, and was educated in the State University at 

 Madison, where he graduated in 1879 in metallurgical engineering. 

 The influence of his early training is perhaps to be traced in his 

 later work in a certain element of precision, as Avell as in his- 

 attraction towards important practical questions. The diversion 

 of his interest to geology ma}- have been due to the influence of 

 Prof. R. D. Irving, with whom he collaborated in several works 





