2 66 PIONEERS OF SCIENCE IN AMERICA. 



ville elicited warm commendation for the beauty of its execu- 

 tion and illustration. In 1858 appeared a memoir on the em- 

 bryology of the UnionidcZ) giving descriptions and figures of 

 thirty-eight species. In all of his papers he described eighteen 

 hundred and seventy-two species of mollusks of various kinds, 

 most of which were from the United States. The series was 

 embodied in a private edition of thirteen volumes, with three 

 indexes, which the author distributed among men of science 

 and learned societies. Richard Owen, acknowledging the re- 

 ceipt of one of the volumes, said, " They represent a kind or 

 class of labours the most genuine and important and lasting, 

 in the hard endeavour to gain a knowledge of Nature." Prof. 

 Haidinger, of Vienna, said, on a similar occasion, that his work 

 would " last as long as natural science shall be cultivated by 

 mankind. The more it is compared and studied, the more 

 appears your power of observation, your efforts in pursuing 

 your object, your steadiness and perseverance." M. A. Boivin 

 wrote, "You render a great service to science in devoting your 

 time to the classification and description of the Unio" About 

 ten thousand individuals were displayed in Dr. Lea's cabinet 

 of Uniomdce, so arranged that each could be separately exam- 

 ined, and, in many instances, with a sequence from the young- 

 est to the oldest, so as to exhibit the aspects of growth. His 

 other cabinets contained nearly a thousand specimens of quartz 

 crystals, nearly five hundred of corundum, thirty-five drawers 

 of the mica group, and several hundred sections of lamina pre- 

 pared for the microscope. 



In 1884 Dr. Lea was able to receive and entertain about 

 two hundred members of the British Association at his cottage 

 at Long Branch ; and in his ninety-fourth year he continued in 

 good health, with his mental and physical faculties unimpaired. 

 His death occurred December 8, 1886. He was President of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia from 1853 to 

 1858, and was President of the American Association in 1860. 

 The list given in his Bibliography of the society honours con- 

 ferred upon him numbers twenty-eight titles, and concludes 

 with an etc. He received the degree of LL. D. from Harvard 

 while absent in Europe in 1852-53. A correspondent, who main- 

 tained most intimate and confidential relations with Dr. Lea for 

 more than twenty years, furnishes a sketch of his personal char- 

 acter and social life, from which we quote the following words: 



