BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ISAAC LEA, LL. D. 



CHAPTER I. 



YOUTH AND MANHOOD. — EARLY STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY. 



The subject of this biography was born in Wilmington, Del., March 

 4, 1792. His ancestors, John and Hanuah Lea, came from Gloucester- 

 shire, in England, with William Penn on his second visit, and " were a 

 couple of noted and valuable preachers." His parents were members 

 of the " Society of Friends," and this gave him a birthright in that 

 society. 



His father, James Lea, was a wholesale merchant. Isaac was the 

 fifth son, and being intended by his parents for the medical profession, 

 was sent to the academy at Wilmington to be instructed in the classics. 

 But at the age of fifteen years a change of plans seemed desirable, and 

 he went to Philadelphia to engage in the mercantile business in the 

 wholesale and imx)orting house of his eldest brother. It was at this 

 time that he became intimate with the family of the late Professor Yan- 

 uxem, whose father was an eminent merchant and much interested in 

 the public affairs of the city. Isaac's early love of nature was inherited 

 from his mother, who was particularly fond of botany, and induced all 

 her children to occupy themselves with the study of plants. Young 

 Vanuxem also had a strong love for natural history, and the two friends 

 in their frequent walks began collecting stones and examining the 

 rocks in the neighborhood of the city. This soon grew into a desire to 

 know the composition of the rocks, as they had no knowledge of any 

 collections or scientific works. Not long after this they found that a 

 cabinet of minerals was in possession of the late Dr. Adam Seybert, 

 whose acquaintance they made. This was the only collection then in 

 Philadelphia, and was subsequently sold to the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, which was formed in 1812. 



In 1814 the two friends joined a volunteer rifle company which offered 

 its services to the governor and held itself in readiness to march at any 

 time. The English army were then in possession of Wasbiugtou and 

 the need seemed urgent, but in the following autumn the governor 

 disbanded the company, so that they were never called into actual 

 service. For this voluuteermg the subject of this sketch lost his birth- 

 right in the Friends' Society. 



