SKETCH OF PROF. JOHN LE CONTE. 7 



Dr. Le Conte did not possess the wealth of instrumental appli- 

 ances needed for the development of his unique discovery, but his 

 priority was gracefully proclaimed by Tyndall in the now classic 

 book on sound, made up of lectures delivered at the Royal Insti- 

 tution. Among other papers that attracted marked attention in 

 Europe was one " On the Adequacy of Laplace's Explanation to 

 account for the Discrepancy between the Computed and the Ob- 

 served Velocity of Sound in Air and Gases," written in 1861 and 

 published in 1864. Laplace's modification of Newton's formula 

 had been questioned by eminent English mathematicians and 

 physicists. Dr. Le Conte showed that the obscurity into which 

 the subject had been thrown was due to misconception of the 

 physical theory of Laplace, and to the difficulties and obscurities 

 which invest the mathematical theory of partial differential equa- 

 tions in their application to physical questions. This paper evoked 

 replies from Profs. Challis, Earnshaw, and Potter, in England ; 

 but the American physicist's position is generally accepted to- 

 day. The paper is a model of exact physical reasoning. In addi- 

 tion to the discussion of Laplace's views, it contains an original 

 investigation of the bearing of the phenomena attending the 

 propagation of sound in air on the question whether the gases 

 constituting our atmosphere are in a state of mixture or of com- 

 bination. 



Just before the close of the war the home of Dr. Le Conte was 

 included in the belt of desolation that was left by General Sher- 

 man's march through South Carolina. Among the losses by fire 

 was the manuscript of a volume on general physics, the product 

 of Dr. Le Conte's many years of experience as a teacher and stu- 

 dent of this subject. The tribulations of the reconstruction period 

 in South Carolina during the years following the war made sci- 

 entific investigation impossible. The political turmoil, and the 

 inauguration of the rule of ignorance and vice in place of intel- 

 ligence, left no refuge but expatriation for those whose occupa- 

 tions depended upon the embellishments of civilization. To this 

 source of disquietude was added the burden of domestic affliction 

 in the loss of an only daughter in the bloom of early womanhood. 



At this critical time came a call to the Pacific coast, to assume 

 the chair of Physics and Industrial Mechanics in the University 

 of California, which was then in the incipiency of its organiza- 

 tion. The offer was accepted, and Dr. Le Conte arrived in San 

 Francisco in April, 1869. Being immediately appointed acting 

 president, he drew up the first prospectus of the university, in 

 which was set forth a synopsis of the proposed courses of instruc- 

 tion. In September of the same year exercises were begun in 

 temporary buildings at Oakland, where during the following sum- 

 mer he conferred the baccalaureate degree on three young men, 



