518 Reviews — Life and Letters of P. and S. Lesle;/. 



acquired a knowledge of Latin, Greek, French, and German, and 

 in 1838 graduated in the University of Pennsylvania. It was his 

 intention to enter the ministry, and to complete his studies in divinity 

 at Princeton. His health, however, gave cause for anxiety, and it 

 was suggested that he should take a season of outdoor work on the 

 geological survey that had been established in 1836 under the 

 direction of Henry D. Rogers. Lesley was well qualified to start as 

 a surveyor and draughtsman. Thus it came to pass that, in 1839, 

 he was appointed a sub-assistant on the First Geological Survey 

 of Pennsylvania, and his very diversified career commenced from 

 that date. 



In her preface to the first volume, Mrs. Ames remarks — " I have 

 not attempted to write of my father's scientific life, not being 

 competent to do so ; but in the Appendix will be found several of the 

 obituary notices written by scientific friends, which will to some 

 extent supply this omission." Lesley's claim to scientific distinction, 

 apart from his Professorial work, rests on his able and original 

 surveys of the coal regions of Pennsylvania ; on the maps and reports 

 which he prepared, first as assistant to Ptogers, and finally as 

 Director of the Second Geological Survey of the State ; on his 

 Manual of Coal and its Topograpliy^ his Iron Manufacturers^ Guide, 

 and other works and papers, of which a list is given. 



Nevertheless, in the two volumes of biography we learn from 

 letters and diaries a good deal of geological interest about Lesley, 

 his methods of work, his many Journeys to Europe, and of men of 

 science he met ; and we are impressed not only by his unflagging 

 industry, interrupted though it was by periods of illness, but likewise 

 by the happy home life and general interests of both Lesley and his 

 wife. After serving about three years with Rogers he resigned his 

 official appointment, and completed his theological training. He then 

 laboured for the American Tract Society, became pastor of a Congre- 

 gational Church, and finally was converted to Unitarianism. During 

 this period of about ten years he was occasionally employed by Rogers 

 in field-work and in preparing maps and sections for the Report of 

 the Pirst Geological Survey. After its publication in 1852 a coolness 

 arose in the friendship between Rogers and Lesley owing to the 

 unfortunate omission on the part of the Director to acknowledge 

 adequately the large share of work performed by his various assistants. 

 Mrs. Ames remarks — "Very possibly this fact was not due to an 

 ungenerous intention, but to the theory that, since the responsibility 

 of a survey rested on the head of that survey, to him also was due the 

 credit of the work done." Lesley put the matter right in a subsequent 

 publication, and Rogers never spoke to him again. 



The records of his many journeys to this countiy and various parts 

 of Europe, also to Egypt, are full of interesting observations and 

 reminiscences. In his first journey in 1844 he met Elie de Beaumont 

 and von Buch, and on subsequent expeditions he saw much of Desor, 

 whose acquaintance he made in America in 1851, and whose genial 

 company, as he remarked, was " enough to keep a dozen men in 

 humour ". Later on, at Desor's chalet at Combe Varin, near jSTeuchatel, 

 he had many "jolly times" ; and it is mentioned that the road leading 



