320 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



His collections in Utah for instance, wiiich were placed in my hands for 

 investigation, not only yielded entirely new material, but have thrown more 

 light upon the geographical] distribution and conditions of former geolog- 

 ical periods, than any collection, made by others in our Western States. . 

 Any formal expression as to the loss of our esteemed friend, which may 

 emanate from your honorable body, is heartily approved ])y 



Yours, respectfully, 



HENRY ULKE. 



No. 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue. 



From Prof. Edward L. Mark, Cambridge, Mass. 



48 Shepard St., Cambridge, Mass., Dec. 34, 1881. 



Mr. and Mrs. Putnam: I trust you will pardon this intrusion. The news 

 of your son's death is indeed sad information. 



I had learned from correspondence and a short personal acquaintance 

 with him not only to greatly admire his scientific industry and his many 

 acquirements, but also to have an affection for his manly character, those 

 personal elements which involuntarily either attract or repel those about one. 

 His work can only stimulate his scientific acquaintances to more worthy ex- 

 ertions. His personal example can only urge upon us a more modest and 

 manly bearing toward our fellows. 



In your loss you have the warmest sympathy of one who ventures to call 



himself your friend. 



EDWARD L. MARK. 



From Prop. W. J. McGbe, Geolosist, Farley, Iowa. 



Farley, Iowa, January 5th, 1883. 



Dr. C. H. Preston, Davenport, Iowa: 



My Dear Sir : I deeply regret my inability to attend the memorial meet- 

 ing to which you kindly invited me; for I fully realize that in uniting with 

 you in honoring the memory of the late Professor J. Duncan Putnam, I 

 would but add to my own fame. 



I cannot but feel that the State at large, as well as your own city, has 

 sustained an irreparable loss in the death of the President and (I may, I 

 think, Avithout injustice to your other members, add) moving spirit of the 

 Davenport Academy of Sciences— that institution which has, in giving the 

 world an inimitable example of typical western enterprise directed to the 

 promotion of science, caused our name to be spoken by scores of men in 

 every civilized land. With every intelligent citizen of our commonwealth 

 I sincerely trust that your severe bereavement may not so blast your enthu- 

 siasm and paralyze your energies as to allow the Academy to be permanently 

 crippled. As a student of science, too, I keenly feel the loss of a fellow- 

 worker, who, though he struggled beneath a weight of suffering such as few 

 are called upon to bear, did so much to increase the ))()unds of human knowl- 

 edge. Our ranks are all too sparsely filled, and we can ill afford to spare the 

 flower of our little band. But my own sorrow is not alone the selfish sorrow 



