LEVITICUS 



3394 LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION 



of Aaron (Numbers XVIII, 1-7), while the 

 Levites discharged inferior duties about the 

 Temple. They are seldom mentioned in the 

 New Testament. 



LEVITICUS, levit'ikus, the third book of 

 the Pentateuch, forming with Exodus and 

 Numbers the literature of the period of the 

 Exodus, or the going out. It contains the laws 

 of the Israelitish sacrifices, an account of the 

 consecration of the priesthood and a collection 

 of laws known as the holiness code. Accord- 

 ing to modern scholarship, the holiness code 

 shows marks of having been revised at a later 

 date, probably to meet the needs of the period 

 following the Exile. See PENTATEUCH. 



LEWES, lu'is, GEORGE HENRY (1817-1878), 

 an English philosophical writer and man of 

 letters. Though he was a man of scholarly 

 attainments, it is chiefly through his associa- 

 tion with the gifted novelist, George Eliot, that 

 he is of interest to the reader of to-day. He 

 was born in London, and was educated in Eng- 

 land and Germany. He abandoned the study 

 of medicine for literature, and in 1845 pub- 

 lished his Biographical History of Philosophy, 

 which proved his ability as a thinker and 

 writer. From 1849 to 1854 he was literary 

 editor of the Leader, and in connection with 

 editorial duties published a Life of Robespierre, 

 a summary of Compte's Philosophy of the 

 Sciences and Life of Goethe, the last winning 

 for him a reputation throughout Europe. His 

 Studies on Animal Life, Physiology of Com- 

 mon Life and Seaside Studies belong to the 

 period of his investigations in physiology with 

 reference to problems in philosophy. Lewes 

 was also the author of Problems of Life and 

 Mind and The Spanish Drama; Lope de Vega 

 and Calderon, and he also prepared a number 

 of plays for the stage. Two novels, written 

 in 1847 and 1848, found no permanent place 

 in literature. 



In 1854 his association with Marian Evans 

 (George Eliot) began, proving wholly differ- 

 ent from his unhappy marriage with Agnes 

 Jervis. There were legal difficulties which pre- 

 vented his securing a divorce, but so strong 

 was the affection of the novelist for him, and 

 so dependent upon him was she for sympathy 

 and encouragement in her literary work, that 

 she endured the censure of her friends and lived 

 with hrm as his wife until his death. See 

 ELIOT, GEORGE. 



LEWIS, lu'is, MERIWETHER (1774-1809), an 

 American explorer, famed as the leader of the 

 expedition which was sent by President Jeffer- 



son in 1804 to explore the uncharted wilds of 

 the territory included in the new Louisiana 

 Purchase. Lewis chose as his companion in 

 this undertaking an old friend, Captain Wil- 

 liam Clark; the results of that famous trip to 

 the New West 

 are stated in the 

 article LEWIS AND 

 CLARK EXPEDI- 

 TION. Lewis was 

 born near Char- 

 lottesville, Va., of 

 a family con- 

 nected by mar- 

 riage with George 

 Washington. At 

 the age of twenty 

 he became a vol- 

 unteer in a body 

 of militia, and on MERIWETHER LEWIS 

 the outbreak of the Whisky Rebellion of 1794 

 joined the troops which were commissioned 

 by the government to quell the insurrection. 

 Having become an ensign in the regular army, 

 he rose to the rank of captain, and in 1801 was 

 appointed President Jefferson's private secre- 

 tary. 



Lewis' offer to lead the exploring expedititon 

 westward was gladly accepted by the Presi- 

 dent, who later paid tribute to the "undaunted 

 courage and firmness of purpose" of the young 

 officer. Congress, in recognition of his services, 

 granted him a tract of 1,500 acres of the pub- 

 lic domain. In 1807 Jefferson appointed him 

 governor of Louisiana Territory, with head- 

 quarters at Saint Louis, and in this position 

 he showed high ability as an administrator. 

 In 1809, while on his way to Washington, D. C., 

 on a business matter, he was mysteriously slain 

 in the cabin of a Tennessee settler. His un- 

 timely death stopped his work on a history 

 of his great exploration. See LOUISIANA PUR- 

 CHASE. 



LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION, an 

 American exploring tour ordered by Thomas 

 Jefferson, President of the United States, after 

 the purchase of Louisiana in 1803. "Let us 

 search out our new country," said Jefferson, 

 "and even that which lies beyond." One band 

 of explorers, commanded by Meriwether Lewis 

 and William Clark, both Virginians, left 

 Saint Louis on May 14, 1804, and went 1,600 

 miles up the Missouri River. They spent the 

 winter among the Mandan Indians, near what 

 is now known as Bismarck, N. D. Men were 

 sent back with reports to Saint Louis in the 



