CLARENCE KING. 



subsequent success has been in a great measure dependent upon 

 the faithfulness with which these principles have been followed 

 by his successors. His belief was that a geological survey of a 

 great industrial country, while not neglecting the more purely 

 scientific side of its work, should occup}^ itself primarily with the 

 direct application of geological results to the development of the 

 mineral resources of the country. 



Under his direction were carried on the examinations of the 

 Comstock, Eureka, Leadville, and other mining districts, whose 

 importance is to be measured not solely by the accurate informa- 

 tion which they afforded of these particular regions, but in far 

 greater degree by their influence upon the whole body of mining 

 engineers, in teaching them the practical impoi'tance of a study 

 of the geological relations of ore deposits. 



He also planned and supervised the collection of statistics of 

 the precious metals for the Tenth Census, a work which has never 

 been equaled in detail or scientific accuracy, and whose logical 

 result was the annual collection of statistics of all the mineral 

 resources of the United States, which has been carried on by the 

 Geological Survey ever since the completion of the work of the 

 Tenth Census. 



King set the very highest standard for the work of the Survey 

 and showed remarkable judgment and knowledge of character in 

 his selection 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 geo- 

 logical problems so far in advance of the average standards of 

 the day that its importance was not generalty 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 successors in 

 office, who frequently consulted him on important questions of 

 policy. 



In giving up his official connection with government geological 

 work, King was doubtless influenced by several motives : His 

 many years of strenuous work and unusual responsibility had 

 been a severe strain upon his health, and he felt the need of rest 



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