MEMORIAL PROCEEDINGS OF OTHER SOCIETIES. 



The Iowa Acacleiny of Sciences. 



Report of Commfttee Appointed to Prepare a Memorial to the Late 

 Joseph Duncan Putnam. 



To the Prextde/if. nnd FMowh <>f the Academy : 



It is fitting- and proper for us, as a scientific association, to record 

 the high appreciation in wliich we hold the pure life and eminent 

 labors of our esteemed fellow-member, J. Duncan Putnam. His 

 career, measured bN' some standards, was short; and yet, when 

 measured by the quality and amount of work he has done for science, 

 and the merited honors he has won, it was equal to the longest. He 

 iias left us an example of superior talents applied with unfiagging 

 and unselfish devotion to the cause of truth; he has left us a name 

 known and lionored in the highest scientific circles in all parts of 

 the world. His place in our Academ3% and in the wider field of 

 Science, will long be vacant. By his early death the world sustains 

 immeasurable loss. 



As a further testimony of our regard for our departed associate, 

 and the honor which we would render to his memory, we lay before 

 you the accompanying memoir. 



Respectfully sulimitted, S. Calvin, 



W. J. McGke. 



Iowa City, Iowa, Mhv 81 si, 1882. 



MP:M()IR of J. DUNCAN PUTNAM. 



BY W. J. McGEE. 



Tliough we live in an eminently progressive age, we can hardly 

 claim that the general tendency of our distinctively modern civiliza- 

 tion is toward the discovery of the unknown and the elucidation of 

 the mysterious in the economy of the universe. Just as, in the 

 nascent civilization, the development of abstract knowledge was re- 

 tarded by any environment necessitating constant physical exertion 

 in the effort to sustain individual life and perpetuate tribal organiza- 

 tion and existence, so, to-day, the restless activity, the enforced 

 versatility, and the feverish anxiety which appear to be essential to 

 [Proc. D. A. N. S., Vol. III.] 31 



