632 



SCIENCE. 



[N. 



Vol. XVII No. 433. 



did not last long, and that she found out only 

 some short period in this manner, but it did not 

 hold out very long. Thus this young woman hath 

 merely by a natural sagacity found out a method 

 of holding discourse that doth in a great measure 

 lessen the misery of her deafness. I examined 

 this matter critically, but only the sister was 

 not present, so that I could not see how the con- 

 versation passed between them in the dark. 



The bishop's language will be clearer if we 

 replace his word ' period ' by the word ' sen- 

 tence.' This passage occurs in a volume en- 

 titled ' Some Letters Containing an Account 

 [of travels] in Switzerland, Italy [and] Ger-. 

 many in 1685 and 1686,' by Gilbert Burnet, 

 London, 168Y (another edition, 1724), 1 Vol., 

 8vo. 



Henry Carrington Bolton. 



MARY LOUISE DUNCAN PUTNAU. 



Mrs. Putnam is dead. To those of us who 

 saw her recently, active and happy, the news 

 comes as a shock. But, for her, the end was 

 beautiful; in the midst of her life interests, 

 withoirt shrinking or suffering, at the close 

 of a day of work, she lay down to rest. 



Mary Louise Duncan was born at Green- 

 castle, Pa., September 23, 1832. Her father, 

 Joseph Duncan, was, at the timCj the only 

 Congressman from Illinois, with his home at 

 Jacksonville. Later he was Governor of 

 Illinois and was influential in shaping the 

 trend of affairs in what was then the Far 

 West. On her mother's side also Miss 

 Duncan was of distinguished ancestry, being 

 the great-granddaughter of that brave woman, 

 Hannah Caldwell, of Eevolutionary fame. In 

 her father's home and at Washington, Miss 

 Duncan enjoyed every opportunity and came 

 into contact with men and women who 

 planned and carried gut great enterprises. 

 In 1854 she married Charles E. Putnam, of 

 Saratoga Springs, New York, and the young 

 couple at once removed to Davenport, Iowa, 

 which was, from that time on, their home. 

 Mr. Putnam was a man of brilliant mind and 

 talent, who, as a lawyer, soon won name, fame 

 and influence in the new home. 



Through her life Mrs. Putnam was actively 

 interested in every good work. Her connec- 



tion with many public and private enterprises 

 deserves mention. But for us her relation 

 to the Davenport Academy of Sciences is of 

 chief importance. Mrs. Putnam was the 

 mother of eleven children; she was devoted 

 to the interests of each and all; with keen 

 sympathy she entered into every child plan 

 of work or play — the garden, the printing 

 press, the family newspaper, the home 

 dramatic performances. In every device of 

 her children she found some helpful stimulus. 

 She was more than an ordinary mother; she 

 was the companion and confidant of each of 

 her flock. So when her oldest child, a boy of 

 fourteen, longed to join the newly founded 

 Academy of Sciences, he demanded that the 

 sharer of his joys, his mother, should also join. 

 She was the first woman member. Joseph 

 Duncan Putnam was a remarkable boy. At 

 fifteen he was the secretary of the academy; 

 before he was a man in years he was known 

 by all the leaders in entomolog-y; at twenty- 

 five he was a recognized authority on some 

 of the least known groups of insects ; at 

 twenty-six he died. His ideals for the acad- 

 emy, to which he was absolutely devoted, were 

 high. He urged permanence — a building, a 

 publication, an exchange and contact with the 

 outside world of science. He lived long 

 enough to see the building and to know that 

 the printed Proceedings of the academy were 

 prized at home and abroad. In all his work 

 and plans his mother stood ever near. When 

 money was necessary she canvassed the city; 

 when people would not give, she planned and 

 carried out public meetings, lectures, enter- 

 tainments; in some way, in spite of discour- 

 agement and rebuff, she won the day. 



And when her son died she devoted her- 

 self to rearing his perpetual monument, in the 

 academy. Through dark years, which would 

 have daunted all but a mother's love, she has 

 toiled, and she has succeeded. The academy 

 lives and will live. Through her interest a 

 publication fund, memorial to her son and 

 her husband, was secured, and the Proceedings 

 have been continiiously published. The vol- 

 umes contain important contributions in all 

 fields, but prominent among them are those 



