250 Proceedings of Indiana Academy of Science. 
that he constantly inspired them to obtain greater results and attain 
higher ideals. When he left the University of Arkansas the students 
presented him a silver loving cup as a token of the respect they held 
for him as a teacher. His students speak of his class-work being as 
good as any course in logic, as he led them to analyze their data and 
taught them how to draw proper conclusions therefrom; so that, aside 
trom those who decided to take up geology as a profession, his old 
students, scattered all over the United States, look back to the work in 
his classes as one of the most profitable experiences of their university 
life. Among his students who were led into adopting geology as a life 
work may be named Miser and Mesler, of the United States Geological 
Survey; Carl Smith, Munn, McCreary, Hutchinson, and others, who, 
after more or less time spent with the national organization, have gone 
into consulting or professional work in the oil industry. 
Purdue had great faith in the constructive ability of the boy brought 
up on the farm, in which class most of his students fell, and in a talk 
a few years ago he explained the reason for that ability as due to the 
constant association in labor of father and son on the farm, the son 
getting the advantage of the father’s example and counsel as they 
worked together in the fields or gardens, and thus acquiring ideals of 
industry, efficiency and initiative commonly lacking in the city- or town- 
bred boy. 
In 1912 Mr. Purdue was elected State Geologist of Tennessee, which 
position he filled with honor to himself and the State until his death, 
on December 12, 1917. Of his success as State Geologist of Tennessee 
the best testimony is the steady stream of high-grade publications that 
flowed from his office. Equally convincing from another direction is the 
fact that during the session of the last State legislature his work and 
its value to the State received unstinted praise, and the enlarged appro- 
priation for the work of the Survey went through practically without 
question or opposition. 
Purdue had for thirty years suffered at times from intestinal trouble 
that had proved more and more of a handicap as time went on. Last 
spring, after a winter of unusual demand, he suffered a sudden attack 
of this old trouble, which for a time undermined his health and threat- 
ened to require an immediate operation. A number of trips to the field 
and for rest led to his regaining somewhat his old vigor, though not 
entirely. 
The last week of November he made an automobile trip into east 
Tennessee for the purpose of studying the manganese deposits of that 
region. He became so ill that he stored his car and returned to Nash- 
ville by railroad. He was taken immediately to a local hospital and, 
after a few days, underwent an operation, with the hope of having his 
