November 5, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



639 



anthropology in America, the others being Brinton, 

 of Pennsylvania, and Powell, of Washington. In 

 1892, he was made chief of the department of 

 anthropology at the World's Columbian Exposition 

 at Chicago, and not only brought together what 

 was probably the greatest areheological and anthro- 

 pological exhibit ever gathered in this country up 

 to that time, but collected by the aid of numerous 

 collaborators a vast mass of data in regard to our 

 native peoples which has not yet been fully worked 

 up. The specimens so brought together for the 

 Exposition became the nucleus of the present Field 

 Museum of Natural History, which may thus be 

 regarded as, in its origins, of his making. In 

 1894 Professor Putnam was made curator of 

 anthropology in the American Museum of Natural 

 History in New York City, and for nearly ten 

 years he applied to its administration and to the 

 building up of its collections the experience he had 

 gained in Cambridge and Chicago. It was again 

 largely through his efforts that the University of 

 California established a department of anthropol- 

 ogy in 1903, and he held the position of professor 

 of anthropology and director of the anthropolog- 

 ical museum in that institution until his retirement 

 in 1909. 



In his long life of scientific work, a great deal of 

 Professor Putnam 's attention was necessarily de- 

 voted to administrative and editorial duties, but he 

 found time, nevertheless, for the writing of a large 

 number of scientific papers, and the bibliography 

 appended to the Anniversary volume presented to 

 him in 1909 by his associates and students, con- 

 tains something over four hundred titles. His 

 membership in scientific societies, both at home 

 and abroad, was extensive. In this country he was 

 a member of the National Academy, the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Phil- 

 osophical Society, and a great many others; out- 

 side the United States he was an honorary or cor- 

 responding member of the anthropological societies 

 of Great Britain, Paris, Stockholm, Berlin, Eome, 

 Florence and Brussels, of the Eoyal Society of 

 Edinburgh, and others of minor importance. In 

 1868 he received the degree of A.M. from Williams 

 College; in 1894 the degree of S.D. from the Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania; and in 1896, the Cross of 

 the Legion of Honor from the French government. 



Professor Putnam was twice married: in 1864 

 to Adelaide Martha Edmands of Cambridge, by 

 whom he had three children, two daughters and one 

 son. After her death, fifteen years later, he mar- 

 ried in 1882 Ester Orne Clarke, of CTiieago, who, 

 with his three children, survives him. 



To his students and associates Professor Putnam 

 endeared himself by his kindliness and sympathy. 

 For every one he had a cordial greeting and a 

 pleasant word. He was ready always to give un- 

 stintedly of his time, and so far as he was able, 

 from his pocket, to any one who asked his aid. 

 He had the gift of inspiring those with whom he 

 came in contact with enthusiasm for research, and 

 to few is it given to have so wide an influence. 

 Until the very last years, the great majority of 

 those in this country who were working in the 

 anthropological field had been associated more or 

 less closely with Professor Putnam, either as stu- 

 dents or colleagues in the various institutions of 

 which he had been a member. His loss, therefore, 

 is widely felt, not only because he was an able ad- 

 ministrator and the last of the three founders of 

 anthropological study in this country, but also be- 

 cause he had won the affections of so many as a 

 teacher and a friend. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 

 Professor M. I. Pupin, of Columbia Univer- 

 sity, will give a lecture on " The Problem 

 of Aerial Transmission," at the approaching 

 meeting of the National Academy of Sciences. 

 The lecture vcill be given at the American 

 Museum of Natural History, New York City, 

 on the evening of November 15. 



At the recent meeting of the Clinical Con- 

 gress of Surgeons of North America, at Bos- 

 ton, Dr. J. M. T. Finney, of the Johns Hop-' 

 kins University, was elected president. 



Dr. Eichard Mills Pearce, professor of re- 

 search medicine in the University of Penn- 

 sylvania, received the degree of doctor of sci- 

 ence from Lafayette College on October 20. 



The Geographical Society of Philadelphia 

 presented on November 3 its Elisha Kent 

 Kane medal to Professor Ellsworth Hunting- 

 ton, of Tale University. Dr. Huntington 

 gave a lecture on " Climate, Weather and 

 Daily Life." 



AccoRDiisrG to a cablegram to the daily press 

 from Stockholm it has been decided to award 

 the Nobel Prize in medicine for 1914 to Dr. 

 Robert Barany, of the University of Vienna, 

 for his work in the physiology and pathology 

 of the ear. 



