JOHN LAWRENCE LE CONTE. 511 



There can be no question that for many years he impressed himself 

 prolbundly upon the hundreds of young men who graduated from the 

 College, and is remembered by them with reverence and love. 



In person he was small, slight and frail, probably never weighing 

 a hundred and twenty pounds when in his best condition. His 

 countenance was refined, and delicate, and on occasion luminous with 

 feeling ; his manner was gentlemanly and courteous, but usually rather 

 reserved until some interesting topic made him forget hinself, — then 

 he was fluent and even impetuous in conversation. He was modest 

 almost to shyness, though certainly conscious of his own real merit 

 and ability ; pure and simple-hearted as a child, and gentle unless in 

 the presence of some wrong or meanness, — - then he could blaze with 

 unexpected fire. He was a faithful friend, a good and patriotic 

 citizen, and an earnest and active member and officer of the church to 

 which he belonged, always prominent in its work and counsels. 



It would of course be false to say that he was faultless, but I am 

 sure of this, — that a purer and more blameless life than his is seldom 

 lived, and that his name will always be reverently and affectionately 

 remembered by those who knew him best. 



JOHN LAWRENCE LE CONTE* 



Dr. John Lawrence Le Conte belonged to a distinguished and 

 wealthy family of Huguenot descent. For more than half a century 

 the family Le Conte, father, son, and two surviving cousins, has been 

 largely connected with the different branches of natural history of the 

 United States. The late Dr. Le Conte was a prominent link of this 

 respectable family pedigree. 



John Lawrence Le Conte, the son of Mayor John Eaton Le Conte 

 and Mary A. H. Lawrence, was born, May 13, 1825, in New York 

 City. His mother died a few weeks after the birth of this child. 

 When a boy, he was placed in St. Mary's College, Maryland, from 

 which he graduated in 1842. His decided taste for natural history, 

 for collecting insects, plants, or stones, developed very early, though 

 he was never behindhand iu his obligatory studies. According to 

 the wishes of his father, his inclination for studies different from the 

 regular course of the College was not repressed. " Once it happened 



* I have, of course, used freely all tlie necrologies known to me ; but I am 

 personally indebted to the lato Dr. J. L. Le Conte for a number of facts given 

 here. 



