384 Obituary — Prof. Joseph Le Conte. 



Mr. Howse's writings on geology and palaeontology, however, do 

 not represent a tithe of the results of his labours. He overflowed 

 with information, but was slow to publish. Much of his knowledge 

 has died with, him, since he does not appear to have left any 

 manuscript notes of consequence. Many undescribed specimens 

 remain in safe keeping which it had been his intention to describe, 

 and which are still, of course, available for study. 



Mr. Howse was essentially a practical and original worker, and 

 a willing helper to other workers. His kindness to all in whom 

 he saw even the slightest trace of the great love of Nature which 

 was his own most striking characteristic was unfailing. Coupled 

 with this was a sensitiveness which sometimes led him into con- 

 troversies such as that with Professor King already referred to, and 

 a constitutional shyness which prevented him from taking any 

 prominent part on public occasions. It is pleasant to think that 

 notwithstanding this he was gratified towards the close of his active 

 and useful life by the award of an honorary degree by the University 

 of Durham. Gr. A. Lebouk. 



JOSEPH LE CONTE. 

 Born Feb. 26, 1823. Died 1901. 



Joseph Le Conte was born in Liberty Co., Georgia, Feb. 26th, 

 1823. He was a descendant of a French Huguenot who towards the 

 end of the seventeenth century emigrated to New Rochelle, New 

 York. His grandfather removed to Georgia before the revolution. 

 His father, Louis Le Conte, was a graduate of Columbia College. 

 Joseph graduated at Franklin College, Georgia, in 1841, and at 

 the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1845. 

 After practising for a short time at Macon, Georgia, he went to 

 Cambridge, Mass., where he studied under the elder Agassiz, whom 

 he accompanied in 1851 on an exploring expedition to Florida. 

 After graduating at the Lawrence Scientific School in Cambridge 

 he was for a few years Professor of Natural History and Geology 

 in Franklin College, and from 1856 to 1869 Professor of Chemistry 

 and Geology in South Carolina College. In 1869 he was appointed 

 Professor of Geology and Natural History in the University of 

 California, a post that he held from that time until his death. 

 In 1892 he was President of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, the meeting being held that year at 

 Eochester, New York. He wrote a series of papers on Monocular 

 and Binocular Vision, but his more important works deal with 

 Natural History and Geology. In 1874 he issued his book on 

 " Religion and Science ; a series of Sunday lectures on the relation of 

 natural and revealed religion," and in 1888 his work on " Evolution : 

 its history, its evidences, and its relations to Religious thought." 

 He published several papers on Physical Geology ; of these his 

 essay entitled " A theory of the formation of the great features 

 of the earth's surface" deserves to be specially mentioned. His 

 "Elements of Geology" appeared in 1878, and a revised and 

 enlarged edition in 1882. 



