Education: Ph.D.

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To become a Doctor of Philosophy, a scholar must write a thesis making at least one original contribution to human knowledge. This grows harder (or sillier) every year. Students thrilled last week to read about Thomas Walsh Jr. of Chicago, a student who gave his life for his Ph.D. Chemistry Student Walsh and his friend Harold Foard of West Virginia left Huanuco, Peru in November to explore the unknown headwaters of the Paute River in Southern Ecuador, to gather data for Walsh's doctorate. For two years they had been in Oroya, Peru on the staff of New York's Cerro de Pasco Copper Corp.

They entered the Maranon river at Huanuco. For a week a crew of stocky, snub-nosed Indian porters pushed them upstream in dugouts. Then the Indians were sent back. Walsh and Foard went on alone in a strong high-sided boat that had been sent from New York in sections.

Last week Harold Foard returned to Peru alone with a letter. Two weeks after they left their Indian porters, the explorers' collapsible boat smashed up in some rapids. Overboard went duffle bags & data. The two men were alone in a steaming, fever-soaked jungle where only the birds and the tops of the writhing vines saw the sun. Thomas Walsh died in his friend's arms and was buried in a narrow trench scooped out of the rotten ground. Harold Foard was picked up by Indians and carried on to Monzon, Peru. The letter he carried said:

"Mother, I am making Foard go on for aid. Can't move. God save us. Please help Foard marry Clarissa, he is your son now. Dad, I am dead—save mother." Clarissa is a girl in Lima, Peru.

Modern Major General