1887.] 'Ik) I [Leidy. 



terested her children ia its study. At an early period also he became 

 acquainted with Lardner Vanuxem, who had similar tastes, and together 

 the young men studied mineralogy and geology, in the pursuit of which 

 they made frequent excursions. 



In 1815 Mr. Lea was elected a m(*mber of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia, which had been founded only three years pre- 

 viousl3\ lie subsequently from time to time took an active part in the 

 affairs of the institution ; and from his ample pecuniary means he liber- 

 ally contributed towards its objects in the promotion of natural history. 

 From 1853 to 1858 he occupied the position of President of the Academy. 

 In 1817 he published in the Journal of the Academy the first of his nu- 

 merous communications on natural history, entitled "An account of the 

 minerals at present known to exist in the vicinity of Philadelphia." 



In 1821 jNIr. Lea was married to Miss Frances A. Carey, an accomplished 

 lady, the daughter of Mathew Carey, a well-known publisher and a writer 

 on political economy. He also became a member of the firm of M. Carey 

 & Sons, which at that time was the most extensive publishing house in 

 the United States ; and he continued with this and the successive firms 

 until he retired from the business in 1851. Mr. Scudder remarks that few 

 men have been more happy in their married life, which reached through 

 fifty-two years, when the death of jMrs. Lea occurred, leaving her greatly 

 afflicted husband together with two sons and a daughter. 



In 1838 Mr. Lea was elected a member of the American Philosophical 

 Society, in which for many years he took an active part'; for some time 

 serving as one of its Vice-Presidents and as Chairman of the Publication 

 and Finance Committee. 



In the spring of 1833, together with his family, he went to Europe and 

 visited England, France and Switzerland; returning the following 

 autumn. In June, 1852, in company with his wife, daughter and sister, 

 he again went to Europe, visited England, France, Germany, Austria and 

 Italy, and returned in November, 1853. In these trips, while taking ad- 

 vantage of the opportunity to examine and study the favorite subjects of 

 his special research in the great museums, he was everywhere received 

 with the most friendly attention by eminent naturalists and others. 



In 1853 Harvard University honored Mr. Lea with the title of LL.D. 

 In 1860 he presided at the meeting of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, held at Buffalo, N. T. As an evidence of his 

 continued interest in all that concerns the cause of natural science, when 

 upwards of ninety-two years of age, at the nieeting of the Association 

 and its guests of the British Association in Philadelphia, in September, 

 1884, he invited the members to visit him at his summer residence at Long 

 Branch, N. J., where he had the pleasure of receiving and entertaining 

 about two hundred. 



Mr. Lea, as usual with men of distinction who have made themselves 

 known by their scientific labors, was enrolled as an associate in numer- 

 ous learned societies abroad and at home. 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. 80C. XXIV. 126. 2y. PRINTED DEC. 6, 1887. 



