214 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



"Life and Letters 

 of josiah dwight 

 Whitney." 



Of special interest to Californians, and 

 above all to lovers of the Sierra, is the 

 "Life and Letters of Professor J. D. 

 Whitney,"* to whose advanced and scien- 



tific methods we owe not only the fine work comprised in the 

 publication of the "California Geological Survey," but also the 

 inspiration for the United States Geological Survey, whose first 

 Director, Clarence King, in reality carried out for the nation 

 what Whitney had begun for our State. The odds against which 

 Whitney worked in convincing an ignorant public and a corrupt 

 legislature of the necessity and practical value of his work must 

 be read in his own words to be appreciated. The letters dealing 

 with his home, family, and private affairs reveal a man of original 

 mind and habit, tenacious in carrying out his ideals of conduct 

 at whatever cost, in material benefit to himself and to others. This 

 sterner side of his character is offset by his tender love of home 

 and family and by his aesthetic talent as a musician and lover 

 of the arts. 



'Tis opportune, indeed, that we of the younger generation 

 become acquainted with the arduous but intensely romantic 

 adventures of the first explorers of the unknown Sierra, and 

 most fitting that the name of the forceful originator of these 

 explorations should crown the proud summit of Mt. Whitney. 



Editor's Note. — The death of Maria Whitney, a sister of Professor J. D. 

 Whitney, and a devoted member of the Sierra Club, has just come to our 

 notice. It was due to her that the "Life and Letters" of her brother has 

 been published. 



* Life and Letters of Josiah Dwight Whitney. Edited by Edwin Tenney 

 Brewster. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass. 



H. M. Le C. 



^ This publication is from the 

 press of C. A. Murdock & Co., 

 68 Fremont St., San Francisco. 



