MEMOIR OF WILLIAM HENRY PETTEE 559 



in his junior year, and graduated with distinction in the class of 1861. 

 He continued in graduate work in the same university for over three 

 years, receiving the degree of Master of Arts in 1864, studying at first 

 in the engineering department of the Lawrence Scientific School and 

 later in the college, where at the same time he was an assistant. 



From 1865 to 1869 he traveled and studied in Europe, his main work 

 being in the Royal Mining Academy of Saxony, at Freiberg, with vaca- 

 tions in the mining regions of Germany. 



In 1868 Mr Pettee returned to Harvard University as a teacher in the 

 School of Mining and Practical Geology, then established, under the 

 direction of Josiah D. Whitney. His appointment in 1869 was that of 

 instructor in mining, but in 1871 he was advanced to the rank of assist- 

 ant professor in the same branch and provision made for work upon 

 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 topo- 

 graphical survey of South Park, Colorado, and during the year 1870-1871, 

 having been granted a leave of absence from Harvard, he became con- 

 nected with the California State Geological Survey. Besides making a 

 study of gold-bearing gravels of California, he undertook systematic work 

 in correction of the determination of altitudes by means of the barometer. 

 Some of the results of this investigation, collected from the detailed re- 

 ports of the survey, were published by authority of the California state 

 legislature in 1874, entitled ll Contributions to Barometric Hypsometry, 

 with Tables for use in California," to which a supplement was added in 

 1878. Professor Whitney's estimate of the onerous labor, the accuracy, 

 and perseverance of Professor Pettee'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 in- 

 struction to an elective section of undergraduates in physical geography, 

 geology, and meteorology at Harvard ; but before 1875 the conditions of 

 the gift supporting a school of mining at that institution were altered and 

 provision for a special instructor in these subjects was withdrawn. 



In 1875 Professor Pettee was appointed to a professorship of mining 

 engineering and related subjects in the University of Michigan, a position 

 which he held with various changes of title until his death. 



In the first semester of 1879-1880 Professor Pettee was granted leave 

 of absence from the University of Michigan to continue his investigation 

 of the auriferous gravels of California. His report on that work was pub- 

 lished as an appendix to the first volume of Whitney's " Contributions 

 to American Geology." It has been adjudged to show that careful exam- 

 ination of phenomena, weighing of evidence, and painstaking accuracy, 



