ISAAC LEA. 267 



" Possessing a mind of great vigour and culture, he was a 

 most genial companion to those whose tastes and sympathies 

 accorded with his own. He was an ardent admirer of the 

 works of Nature ; and his cultivated mind enabled him to per- 

 ceive many qualities and properties in them, the beauties of 

 which are not comprehended by a less gifted observer. Few 

 objects escaped his notice. He possessed, in an eminent de- 

 gree, a prompt and keen appreciation of the sublime and of the 

 grotesque; and a speedy judgment in detecting merit or fraud, 

 affectation or sincerity. 



" Dr. Lea habitually, during a period of nearly half a cen- 

 tury, spent many hours of the night in his studies and his writ- 

 ings, seldom relinquishing them before midnight. These night 

 studies were continued, with little intermission, until he was 

 nearly eighty years old ; and they were gradually and finally 

 abandoned only in compliance with the warnings of his medical 

 adviser. Until Dr. Lea became enfeebled with age, at a late 

 period in his life, it was a source of great delight to him to col- 

 lect mineral specimens in Chester and Delaware Counties in 

 Pennsylvania. His most frequent companions, on such occa- 

 sions, were Mr. William W. Jefferies, formerly of West Chester, 

 and the writer. No ardent schoolboy manifested more enthu- 

 siasm in digging than he, when a fair prospect was afforded for 

 obtaining specimens; and his well-trained eye quickly recog- 

 nised a specimen, though covered with soil. He never permit- 

 ted any person to clean his specimens excepting himself ; and 

 that operation he performed with great patience, in the most 

 complete manner, in order to display all the beauties which the 

 minerals possessed. He was familiar with nearly all the min- 

 eral localities in Eastern Pennsylvania. Many years ago the 

 writer described a locality for minerals in Delaware County, 

 which he supposed would be new to Dr. Lea, and received the 

 following reply from him : ' I have crawled all over that locali- 

 ty, on my hands and knees, a half-dozen times, with good re- 

 sults every time.' 



" Dr. Lea was a strong admirer of gems, and his familiarity 

 with precious stones was so great that he was considered to be 

 one of the best judges of them in this country. He devoted 

 more time than any other mineralogist to the microscopic 

 examination of the precious stones ; the results from which 

 were published, at various times, in the proceedings of the 



