Clarence King. 231 



the faithfulness with which these principles have been followed 

 by his successors. 



Foreseeing the important part that the development of its 

 mineral resources was destined to play in the future progress 

 of the country, he judged that, while not neglecting the more 

 purely scientific side, its work should be primarily devoted to 

 the direct application of geological results to the development 

 of these resources. It has been because the people at large 

 have realized its practical success in this line that the Survey 

 has been more richly endowed, and thus better able to carry on 

 its purely scientific work, than any organization of its kind in 

 the world. 



King set the very highest standard for its work, and showed 

 remarkable judgment and knowledge of character in his selec- 

 tion of the men who, in their respective branches, were best 

 fitted to keep it up, as nearly as possible, to this standard. In 

 his establishment of a physical laboratory for the determina- 

 tion of the physical constants of rocks, he took a step in the 

 direction of the application of methods of exact science to 

 geological problems so far in advance of the average standards 

 of the day that its importance was not generally realized until 

 long after. 



In all his after life, he maintained a lively interest in the 

 work of the Survey, and kept closely in touch with his succes- 

 sors in office, who frequently consulted him on important ques- 

 tions of policy. 



After his retirement from government service, he came much 

 less frequently into personal contact with scientific men, for he 

 had little sympathy with that phase of scientific activity which 

 is represented by academies and societies. 



He had been elected a fellow of the Geological Society of 

 London in 1874, and of the National Academy of Sciences in 

 1876. He was, also, a life member of the American Institute 

 of Mining Engineers, but he rarely attended the meetings of 

 any of these associations and never contributed to their pro- 

 ceedings. He found his recreation from business occupations 

 rather in social intercourse with his many friends and admirers 

 in the literary and artistic world, yet he was not forgetful of 

 his chosen profession, and through all the varied occupations of 

 an intensely busy life he still continued his investigations into 

 the deeper problems of geology, to carry on which had been 

 one of his motives for giving up administrative duties on the 

 Geological Survey. 



In his financial affairs, King had difficulties to contend with 

 that few of his friends realized, and which would have com- 

 pletely discouraged a man of less sanguine and buoyant 

 temperament. 



