112 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



SKETCH OF PROF. JOHN LE CONTE. 



By Peof. W. LE CONTE STEVENS. 



THE subject of the present sketch is the Professor of Physics 

 in the University of California, where he has for many years 

 been associated with his brother, the distinguished geologist and 

 writer on evolution. He was the second son of Louis Le Conte, 

 and was born on the 4th of December, 1818, at the family home- 

 stead in Liberty County, Georgia. The father was a man of 

 much independence of character, firm and decided, yet kind and 

 gentle, exceedingly fond of investigation, original in thought, but 

 singularly indifferent to popular recognition. He published noth- 

 ing himself, and would never have become known away from his 

 own home, had not others been appreciative enough of his real 

 merit to give some of his results to the world by presenting them 

 before the New York Lyceum of Natural History. 



By personal influence and example, Louis Le Conte inculcated 

 in his sons the love of science, and of truth for its own sake. The 

 virtue of verification was one which he sought to cultivate in 

 them as of cardinal importance. An illustration of the success 

 of his teaching in this direction, and of the early growth of the 

 philosophical habit of mind in his son John, was afforded on one 

 occasion when the father and a number of neighbors, while pa- 

 trolling at night to check some illicit transactions between the 

 negro slaves and the shopkeepers of the nearest village, were fired 

 upon with blank cartridges, and thrown from their startled horses. 

 Relating the story of his mishap after he had reached home, the 

 father said, " I lost my left stirrup ; at the turn in the road I lost 

 the other stirrup, and at the next turn I was thrown." John, who 

 listened to the narrative with great interest, was perplexed to 

 know how the stirrups could have been lost. His night's rest did 

 not remove the trouble, and, leaving his bed before sunrise, he 

 went and examined the saddle. He reported upon the result of 

 his investigation at the breakfast-table. " Pa, did you not say 

 last night that, when the horse ran away with you, you lost your 

 stirrups ? " " Yes, my son, I did say so/' " Well, I have found 

 that the stirrups are safe and sound." The laugh was turned 

 against the son, and the father often told the story afterward as a 

 joke upon him. It was, however, no joke ; it was a prediction of 

 the career of the future investigator in physics. 



The childhood and most of the boyhood of John Le Conte were 

 spent at the plantation home in Georgia, where hunting, fishing, 

 boating, and all kinds of athletic sports contributed largely to the 

 training of his observing faculties. His uncle, Major Le Conte, 



