i9o6] CHANCE— BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF J. P. LESLEY. iii 



can recall how urgently he begged them to acquire knowledge, not 

 from books only, but to go into the highways and byways, into the 

 workshops and factories, and glean that which was useful and 

 valuable ; how repeatedly he taught that from the most ignorant 

 something of value might always be learned, and how eager he was 

 to impress upon all their duty to publish to the world every new or 

 valuable fact which they might possess, that others might benefit 

 thereby. Thus, in other channels than those of this Society, he was 

 striving not only to " promote useful knowledge " but to imbue 

 others with like impulses, and one cannot doubt that the influence 

 of his life and precepts upon hundreds of students has given force 

 and impetus, to the dissemination of knowledge. He seemed to 

 delight in teaching because it afforded him this opportunity of in- 

 spiring the young with a thirst for knowledge, of directing them 

 how to find it and of imbuing them with a sense of their obligations 

 to give it freely to their fellowmen. Hence, it is not surprising 

 that after this society, which always held the first place in his heart, 

 he seemed to love next best his work at the University of Penn- 

 sylvania where for nearly twenty-five years he was a member of 

 the faculty. 



While it was as a student at the University of Pennsylvania, 

 that the writer first met and learned to admire and respect him, 

 the acquaintance thus begim continued through a closer association 

 of ten years (1874-1884) as one of his assistants, during a portion 

 of the period in which Professor Lesley was state geologist of Penn- 

 sylvania. 



As state geologist, his attention was absorbed to the exclusion of 

 almost everything else, by a great task to be performed, by a great 

 duty to the state to be faithfully discharged, and to this end he bent 

 every effort, working prodigiotisly, doing the work of others, never 

 sparing himself, always laboring, always earnest, never satisfied to 

 take the rest or recreation most men deem indispensable. Yet he 

 was ever considerate of others, nev^r expecting them to strive as 

 he did, but on the contrary continually taking from all of his assist- 

 ants some of their burdens and carrying them himself. 



Only an overwhelming sense of duty, of responsibility assumed 



