JuLT 8, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



59 



juniors in the laboratory. His period of study 

 and travel in Europe was one of three years, 

 from 1865 to 1868. Here his main work was 

 in the Eoyal Mining Academy of Saxony, at 

 Treiberg, with vacations in the mining re- 

 gions of Germany. 



In 1868 Mr. Pettee returned to Harvard 

 University as a teacher in the school of min- 

 ing and practical geology then established 

 under the direction of Josiah D. Whitney, 

 the Sturgis-Hooper professor of geology, the 

 director of various geological surveys, inclu- 

 ding the Lake Superior region and California, 

 and author of works upon the sources of 

 metallic wealth, widely circulated in this 

 country. Mr. Pettee's appointment in 1869 

 was that of instructor in mining. He was 

 advanced in 1871 to the rank of assistant 

 professor in the same branch, with plans for 

 his work upon the geological surveys to be 

 carried on under the auspices of the Harvard 

 School of Mining. 



In the summer of 1869 Professor Pettee 

 made a geological and topographical survey 

 of the South Park of Colorado, a district 

 which had not been covered by the United 

 States geological surveys. In the year 1870- 

 71 he was granted leave of absence for the 

 California State Geological Survey. Besides 

 making a study of gold-bearing gravels, he 

 undertook systematic work in correction of 

 the determination of altitudes by the barom- 

 eter. Some of the results of this investiga- 

 tion, collected from the detailed reports of the 

 survey, were published by authority of the 

 California State Legislature in 1874, entitled 

 ' Contributions to Barometric Hypsometry,' 

 with Tables for use in California, and a Sup- 

 plement with Additions in 1878. The work 

 embraced comparisons of the observations 

 taken with the accumulated results of ob- 

 servers in Europe and these could be collected 

 but slowly from scattered publications. A 

 library was formed on the subject. Professor 

 Whitney's estimate of the onerous labor, the 

 accuracy and perseverance of Professor Pet- 

 tee's work in this undertaking appears in the 

 prefatory note to the volume above mentioned. 



From 1871 to 1875 in addition to other 

 duties Professor Pettee gave instruction to an 



elective section of undergraduates in physical 

 geography, geology and meteorology. Before 

 1875 the conditions of the gift supporting a 

 school of mining at Harvard were altered and 

 the special instruction in this subject was 

 withdrawn. It was in 1875 that Professor 

 Pettee was appointed to a professorship of 

 mining engineering and related subjects in 

 Michigan. How the turn of events here again 

 released our friend from the limits of a pro- 

 fessional specialty has been well stated by his 

 honored colleague. Dean Green, of the en- 

 gineering department, to whose article on the 

 ' Life of Professor Pettee ' this memorial is 

 very much indebted. 



In the first semester of 1879-80 Professor 

 Pettee was granted leave of absence from this 

 university to continue his investigation of the 

 auriferous gravels. His report of that work 

 was published as an appendix to the first vol- 

 ume of Whitney's ' Contributions to American 

 Geology ' from the Museum of Comparative 

 Geology at Cambridge. It has been adjudged 

 to show that careful examination of phenom- 

 ena, weighing of evidence, and painstaking 

 accuracy, which those best acquainted with 

 Professor Pettee always expect in papers pre- 

 pared by his hand. 



In the meetings of the faculty Professor 

 Pettee was rarely absent and in them he has 

 naturally served as the undoubted arbitrator 

 upon questions as to previous or conflicting 

 legislation. A member of three faculties, in 

 each he was equally serviceable, and his judg- 

 ment was asked for more often than offered. 

 He has been annually and inevitably reelected 

 as the secretary of the university senate, and 

 this body owes much to the form he has 

 given to records and reports, both in the ma- 

 king of history and through immediate publi- 

 cation. 



It is not possible in this memorial even to 

 enumerate all of the duties, important in ad- 

 ministration, to which Mr. Pettee has been 

 assigned. The files of university publications, 

 in college libraries and everywhere, give evi- 

 dence of the safeguard afforded by his editorial 

 ability. In the organizations affiliated with 

 the university he has been equally helpful. 



The annual transactions of the American 



