488 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROCHESTER MEETING 



to tell the story, but none could attempt it with greater willingness or 

 with more reason to perform the task as a token of esteem and affection. 



Doctor Claypole died at Long Beach, California, one of the coast re- 

 sorts near Los Angeles, August 17, 1901. He had moved to Pasadena, 

 California, in 1898, on account of the impaired health of Mrs Claypole, 

 and was there busily engaged as a professor in Throop Polytechnic In- 

 stitute. Although an obscure, but -serious and painful ailment, appar- 

 ently affecting chiefly the left hand, had caused him to rest under physi- 

 cian's orders, only the most intimate friends had any fears of fatal results, 

 and these were not anticipating an early termination of his life. The 

 worst contemplation was the possibility of retirement from active pursuit 

 of his regular routine. While rising from bed on the morning of August 

 16, he suddenly became unconscious and remained thus until his death, 

 at 11 p. m. of the 17th. The immediate cause was cerebral hemorrhage. 

 His devoted wife survived him but a few weeks, dying October 6, 1901, 

 at Pasadena. The remains of both were cremated, in accordance with 

 their own expressed wishes. 



The accompanying bibliography affords convincing evidence of the 

 breadth of mental grasp of this man and his inability to overlook the 

 simplest fact presented to him in contemplation of nature. But we must 

 here confine our attention strictly to the geologic work on which his 

 record was largely made. Contemporary estimates are not always reli- 

 able in such cases, but there will be no question of the importance of 

 Doctor Claypole's investigations and their bearing upon the progress of 

 this science during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. His 

 papers were models of simple, straightforward expression, and stand as 

 a marked example of what should be sought in scientific publications. 

 He attracted attention not by his controversial literature, although few 

 were better equipped than he for that class of work, but his papers nearly 

 always provided the last word in argument, because he never came be- 

 fore the public until all his material had been thoroughly threshed and 

 freed from chaff. It is this characteristic of careful pruning and rigid 

 self-restraint which makes his writings of permanent worth. One may 

 take at random from the list any title whatever, and if the date of its 

 publication be noted carefully, investigation will demonstrate that it 

 appeared many months, usually several years, after his work upon the 

 subject began. Many able geologists are best known to their contempo- 

 raries by their environment at the time of their published work. It was 

 not thus with Claypole. His periods of residence in given localities were 

 collective, formative epochs, in which he gathered facts laboriously and 

 digested them well; but he announced the results usually long after- 

 ward and frequently after removal from the scene of his studies. 



