SKETCH OF MANLY MILES. 835 



on to the farm, and Manly and his brother went round thrashing for 

 the neighbors. Industrious in study as well as in work, the boy 

 never neglected his more prosaic duties to gratify his thirst for knowl- 

 edge. He studied geometry while following the plow, drawing the 

 problems on a shingle, which he tacked to the plow-beam. When- 

 ever he was missed and inquiry was made about him, the answer in- 

 variably was, " Somewhere with a book." He was most interested 

 in the natural sciences, particularly in chemistry in its applications 

 to agriculture, and in comparative physiology and anatomy, and was 

 a diligent student and collector of mollusks. 



Choosing the profession of medicine, Mr. Miles was graduated 

 M. D. from Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1850, and practiced 

 till 1859. In the meantime he became greatly interested in the sub- 

 ject of a geographical survey of the State, for which an act was 

 passed and approved in 1858. In the organization of the survey, 

 in 1859, he was appointed Assistant State Geologist in the depart- 

 ment of zoology; and in the next year was appointed professor of 

 zoology and animal physiology in the State Agricultural College 

 at Lansing. 



In his work as zoologist to the State Geological Survey, in 1859, 

 1860, and 1861, he displayed rare qualities as a naturalist, so that 

 Mr. Walter R. Barrows, in recording his death in the bulletin of 

 the Michigan Ornithological Club, expresses regret that many of 

 the years he afterward devoted to the development of experimental 

 agriculture " were not spent in unraveling some of the important 

 biological problems which the State afforded, which his skill and 

 perseverance would surely have solved." He was a " born col- 

 lector," Mr. Barrows adds, " as the phrase is, and his keen eyes, 

 tireless industry, and mathematical precision led to the accumu- 

 lation of thousands of valuable specimens and more valuable ob- 

 servations." 



Mr. Bryant Walker, of Detroit, who knew Professor Miles well in 

 later years, and had opportunity to review his zoological work, regards 

 the part he took during this service in developing the knowl- 

 edge of the fauna of the State as having been very promi- 

 nent. " The catalogues he published in the report for 1860 have 

 been the basis for all work since that time." He kept in correspond- 

 ence with the most eminent American naturalists of the period, in- 

 cluding Cope, Prime, Lea, W. G. Binney, Baird, and Agassiz, and 

 supplied them with large quantities of valuable material. From the 

 many letters written by these naturalists which are in the possession 

 of his friends, we take, as illustrating the character of the service 

 he rendered and of the trust they reposed in him, even previous to his 

 going on the survey, one from Agassiz, of February 4, 1856: 



