CLARENCE KING. 



In 1890 Brown University conferred upon him the honorary 

 degree of LL.D. That he received no public recognition of his 

 later scientific work may perhaps be ascribed to its peculiarly 

 unobtrusive character, which gave rise to the erroneous impres- 

 sion that he had abandoned science altogether. 



In 1892 he wrote the only scientific publication of his later 

 years on the "Age of the Earth," which appeared in the American 

 Journal of Science in 1893. It is the latest and perhaps one of 

 the most profound discussions from the point of view of terres- 

 trial physics of that important subject, and was most favorably 

 received by such great physicists as Kelvin and Helmholtz. 



By the great financial disaster of 1893 King, in common with 

 many others, suffered severe financial losses, and by the failure 

 of a national bank which he had founded the greater part of his 

 accumulations of previous years were swept away. In the follow- 

 ing winter, during convalescence from a serious attack of nervous 

 prostration, he spent several months in Cuba at the country house 

 of his friend, Henry Adams, the historian, during which he be- 

 came deeply interested in the political condition of the island 

 and visited the camps of the revolutionists, thus becoming .per- 

 sonally acquainted with their chiefs. The sympathy with their 

 cause which resulted from his investigations led him to actively 

 espouse it during the discussions in this country which led up to 

 the Spanish war, both in personal interviews with the leaders of 

 the administration and in published articles in the "Forum." 



He also investigated the geology and economic resources of the 

 island, which so interested him that it became one of his cher- 

 ished plans of future work to organize a geological survey in 

 Cuba, if political conditions should become sufficiently settled 

 to justify it. 



During his later years the great stimulation of mining in- 

 dustry of this country led to an ever-increasing demand for his 

 services, both as expert in important mining investigations and 

 in passing on the value of properties offered as investments to 

 capitalists, demands which he did not feel justified in refusing. 

 Such work often involved the most severe and even dangerous 

 strain, and in this, as in everything else in which he was engaged, 

 King never spared himself. 



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