August 23, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



275 



genial society of the place they were pleas- 

 antly spent, though sadly interrupted. 



When teaching gave way to more serious 

 duties Joseph offered his services to the 

 Government of the Southern Confederacy, 

 and was for a time engaged as chemist in 

 the government laboratory for the manu- 

 facture of medicines, and later as chemist 

 at the Nitre and Mining Bureau at Colum- 

 bia, of which his brother John had been 

 appointed superintendent. In this work he 

 continued till the close of the war. 



In 1866 the University of South Carolina 

 was reorganized and the brothers resumed 

 their professorships. But in the crippled 

 condition of the community it soon became 

 apparent that it would be long before oppor- 

 tunities for scientific work would be opened 

 up. Their private fortune had been swept 

 away by the war, and when in 1868 they 

 were invited to join the initial staff of the 

 University of California, then being organ- 

 ized, they both accepted. At the age of 46 

 Joseph Le Conte thus became professor of 

 geology, botany and natural history in the 

 University of California. The title of his 

 chair was changed in 1872 to ' geology and 

 natural history,' and this chair he held up 

 to the time of his death. 



From this brief sketch of the mere exter- 

 nals of Professor Le Conte's career, the 

 character of his life-work as a student and 

 teacher of natural science must impress 

 the reader. This impression will be sus- 

 tained and strengthened by a glance at the 

 long list of his writings appended to this 

 article. He was no narrow specialist, yet 

 he was an authority in advance of his con- 

 temporaries in several distinct lines of sci- 

 entific and philosophical inquiry. His ear- 

 liest writings of scientific importance had 

 to do with the phenomena of binocular 

 vision, which he discussed in a long series 

 of papers, published chiefly in the Ameri- 

 can Journal of Science and in the Philosophical 

 Magazine, between the years 1868 and 1880. 



These essays were enlarged and published 

 in his well-known book of several editions 

 entitled 'Sight.' This work is generally 

 recognized as an important contribution to 

 our knowledge of the subject and is re- 

 markable for that lucidity of style and 

 felicity of graphic illustration and simile 

 which characterize, indeed, all his writings. 

 While issuing these papers he was, after 

 coming to California, actively engaged in 

 geological studies. Various excursions in 

 the Sierra Nevada and in the Cascade 

 Mountains of Oregon led to important dis- 

 coveries. He announced the age and char- 

 acter of the Cascade Mountains and their 

 relation to the great Columbia lava flood ; 

 he desci'ibed the ancient glaciers of the 

 Sierra Nevada, and was among the first to 

 recognize the post-Tertiary elevation of the 

 Sierra Nevada, as shown by the river beds. 

 His studies on mountain structure led him 

 to important generalizations on the origin 

 of mountains in general, and he became 

 one of the chief exponents of the ' contrac- 

 tional theory ' of mountain building. His 

 studies on ore deposition at Steamboat 

 Springs, Nevada, and Sulphur Bank, Cali- 

 fornia, led him to a discussion of vein for- 

 mation in general ; and his classification of 

 ore deposits has been widely recognized as 

 resting on a sound basis and is not dis- 

 placed in its essential features by the most 

 recent attempts in the same direction. He 

 also made important contributions to the 

 subjects of seismology and coral growth in 

 its geological aspects. 



In 1878, he published his ' Elements of 

 Geology,' a book which has had, perhaps, a 

 more extensive use in the schools and col- 

 leges of this country than any other text- 

 book in the natural sciences. This was 

 followed in 1884 by his ' Compend of Geol- 

 ogy,' a more elementary treatment of the 

 same work. He was also interested in many 

 other scientific and medical subjects such 

 as 'The Problem of Flight,' 'The Func- 



