32 Biographical Memoir of Sir John Leslie. 



a firm reliance ever could be placed. He was fond of society, 

 and greatly preferred and prized that of the intelligent and re- 

 fined ; but no man ever was more easily pleased ; no fastidious- 

 ness ever interfered with his enjoyment of the passing hour ; 

 lie could be happy, and never failed to converse in his usual 

 way, though in the humblest company ; and we have often 

 known him pass an afternoon with mere boys, discoursing to 

 them pleasantly upon all topics that presented themselves, just 

 as if they had been his equals in age and attainments. He was 

 thus greatly liked by many who knew nothing of his learning 

 or science, except that he was famous for both. 



He was never married. As to his person, — he was rather 

 below the middle size, and corpulent, but well limbed ; and 

 though his face was large and florid, there was that about his 

 eyes and forehead which seemed to shew that he was no ordi- 

 nary man. There is a Bust of him by Joseph ; a Portrait of 

 the common size, taken a few years before his death, by Wil- 

 kie ; and a Head, drawn at an earHer period, by Henning, 

 which presents a very striking likeness.* 



On Rkodizite, a New Mineral Species, Jtom Russia. 



In a recent number of PoggendorfF's Journal, Gustav Rose 

 lias communicated some particulars regarding this new sub- 

 stance. Rhodizite has hitherto been found only in very small 

 dodecahedral crystals, whose aUernate three-sided solid angles 

 are slightly truncated by the planes of a tetrahedron ; and these 

 planes are peculiarly smooth and shining, while the planes of the 

 dodecahedron have somewhat less lustre, and are frequently 

 uneven. The crystals are greyish or yellowish white ; have a 

 ii'lassy, passing into an adamantine lustre ; and are more or less 

 translucent. Their hardness is considerable, for they scratch 

 topaz, and therefore also boracite. The specific gravity of se- 



• In the last number of the Edinburgh Review, in an article ou Dr Buck- 

 laud's Bridgewater Treatise, a most erroneous account is given of the geolo- 

 uical discussions that took place, many years ago, in the Royal Society of 

 Edinburgh, and Professor Leslie figures there in the list of Huttonians, al- 

 though it is well known that he opposed all the leading doctrines of the theory 

 of the earth of Hutton — Edit. 



