Revieivs — Life and Letters of P. and S. Lesley. 519 



to the house was bordered by tall trees of varioiis kinds on which 

 names of distinguished visitors were from time to time inscribed.' 



We read of Barrande, who in 1851 had "been able to throw 20 

 species and 12 genera into owe", and wish that such a process could 

 be continixed ; and we find many memoranda about Lesquereux, the 

 distinguislied botanist. He was son of a watchmaker at Neuchatel, 

 and early in his career was professor in the University of Stuttgart, 

 but becoming stone-deaf he had to abandon his post, and his health 

 was for a time broken. It is touching to learn that his wife "laid 

 aside all the prejudices of her early education, and with astonishing 

 perseverance learned a branch of the watch-making trade, and 

 supported her husband and five children for nearly three years". 

 Lesquereux recovered his health, but not his hearing, and settled for 

 the sake of his family in the United States, where he became renowned 

 for his researches on fossil plants. 



An interesting account is given by Lesley of a dinner with the 

 Royal Society Club in 1863, in which year also he met Dr. Percy, 

 who " was waiting for me in his study, and at once made me at home 

 with cheroots and a glass of sherry". They had much to discuss 

 concerning iron-ores. 



He saw the Arch (eoptenjx from Solenhofen with Owen, who thought 

 that the remains included " the front jaws of some fish which the bird 

 has eaten ". 



There are reminiscences also of Sir Henry Holland, of Ramsay, 

 and Sir William Hooker, as well as of a visit to Lyell when he had 

 a children's party in 1863, and there were present Leonard Horner, 

 Darwin, and Bishop Colenso. 



Lesley dined with the Geological Society Club in 1864, meeting 

 Murchison, Lyell, Lord Enniskillen, Ramsay, and others ; but it is 

 noted that W. J. Hamilton was "perpetual Secretary" and Smyth 

 " Clerk", whereas both were Secretaries for the time being.^ 



Again, we find Lesley at the International Geological Congress in 

 Paris in 1878, and he mentions that at one meeting when Hebert 

 presided, "Everybody talked all at once. Three sometimes spoke 

 vehemently without listening to each other. Total absence of parlia- 

 mentary rules." There are reminiscences also of meetings with 

 Gosselet, Heim, Barrels, and others. 



During many years Lesley was very fully occupied in making reports 

 for companies and private individuals on coal, iron-ore, and petroleum. 

 In 1872 he was appointed to the Chair of Geology in the School of 

 Mines at the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1874 he became 

 State Geologist. Of his great work in connexion with the Second 

 Pennsylvanian Survey, Mr. J. J. Stevenson has remarked — "He was 



1 It is to be regretted that no obituary notice of Desor appeared either in the 

 Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society or in the Geological Magazine. 



* We have noticed few other mistakes ; but iu vol. i, on p. 244, the "Dean of 

 York" should be Dean of Westminster (Buckland), on p. 445 " Leyrae " should be 

 Swanage, on p. 446 " Riggs " should be Trenham Reeks, and in vol. ii on p. 74 

 " Hapley " should be Huxley. Mrs. Ames was evidently in doubt about some of 

 these names, owing to difficulty in reading the MS. ; but her work bears evidence 

 of scrupulous care. 



