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58 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SAINT LOUIS MEETING 



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 con- 

 stant 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 iii the city or town bred boy. 



In 1912 Mr. Purdue was elected State Geologist of Tennessee, which 

 position he iilled 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 appropriation 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 threatened 

 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 Ten- 

 nessee for the purpose of studying the manganese deposits of that region. 

 He became so ill that he stored his car and returned to Nashville by rail- 

 road. He was taken immediately to a local hospital, and after a few days 

 underwent an operation, with the hope of having his health restored. 

 The morning of the operation he dictated for publication in the EcvSources 

 of Tennessee a paper giving the results of his recent investigation of 

 manganese. Then he walked into the operating room as calmly as if he 

 were going into his office for a day's work. At first everything indicated 

 a speedy recovery, but complications arose and he died a week later from 

 uremic poison. 



Mr. Purdue was quiet and unassuming — a man who disliked display, 

 who sought always to keep his own personality and achievements in the 

 background, yet a maiuwho made friends that stuck, because he could 

 prove himself a true friend under all circumstances ; a man whose judg- 

 ment was sought by many; a man whose influence was always for sanity, 

 for uplift, for scientific accuracy, even in the simple things of life. I 



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