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JOSEPH LE CONTE 
 
The University of California 
 
 Magazine 
 
 Volume VII SEPTEMBER, 1901 No. 5 
 
 JOSEPH LE CONTE. 
 The Measure of Our Love for Him. 
 
 by wm. e. ritter 
 
 He is gone beyond the reach of our voices. 
 A mysterious love that uutil now we did not know 
 We would tell him but cannot. 
 
 Tell him! Love that bindeth beyond the grave is not told ! 
 Such love tilleth into rich fruitage 
 The seeds of his immortality to whom it goeth out — 
 Seeds planted by his own hand 
 In the eager soil of other lives — 
 And so uttereth itself. 
 
 THE GREATNESS OF JOSEPH EE CONTE. 
 
 BY THOMAS R. BACON. 
 
 TT7HEN the news came to us that he, whom we all loved, 
 ^ ^ the great teacher and good man, had passed from "the 
 utmost bound of the everlasting hills" he loved so well into 
 the immediate presence of the eternal verities in which he had 
 already so largely lived, no one could feel a real regret that 
 so fitting a life was so fittingly ended. The history of the 
 University of California has not been an untroubled one. 
 There have been times of tumult and dispute. But across it 
 
2o8 The University of California Magazine. 
 
 all there runs one straight, shining line of white, the path un- 
 swervingly trodden out by the blameless feet of Joseph Le 
 Conte. He had the power of inspiring reverence and aflfec- 
 tion even in those who scarcely knew him. Men had only to 
 enter into the sphere of his transmuting influence to love him, 
 and to be better for that love. His mere presence was peace. 
 The "good gray head which all men knew" was a luminary 
 with healing in its radiance, a radiance which transfigured 
 those upon whom it fell. Why there was such saving power 
 in the man, it is not hard to tell. His great knowledge was 
 added to the simplicity that is found in the heart of a child. 
 He was one of the pure in heart, who see God. He was a 
 great scientist, he was a great philosopher, but we know that 
 he was greater in another way, — he kept unsoiled, unstained, 
 that little part of the life of God which came to him at his 
 birth, and with the faith of a little child he walked, unspot- 
 ted, from the world. 
 
 The apparent chasm between his traditional faith and the 
 discoveries of modern science interested him greatly, but 
 troubled him not at all. For the help of those who were 
 troubled thus, he sought to impart to others what was his 
 own clear vision of these things. What Longfellow said of 
 another great geologist might well have been spoken concern- 
 ing him: 
 
 And Nature, the old nurse, took 
 
 The child upou her kuee, 
 Saying, "Here is a story-book 
 
 Thy father has written for thee." 
 
 "Come, wander with me," she said, 
 
 "Into regions yet untrod. 
 And read what is still unread 
 
 In the manuscript of God." 
 
 And he wandered away and away 
 
 With Nature, the dear old nurse, 
 Who sang to him night and day 
 
 The rhymes of the universe. 
 
Reminiscences of Joseph Le Conte. 209 
 
 And whenever the way seemed long, 
 
 And his strength began to fail, 
 She would sing a more wonderful song, 
 
 Or tell a more wonderful tale. 
 
 So she keeps him still a child 
 And will not let him go: — 
 
 but she had to let him go at last. The Father himself stooped 
 down and took the child from the nurse's arms. And now 
 we sorrow most of all for this, that we shall see his face no 
 more. And we are glad and thankful that his raemorj' shall 
 dwell here as a benediction in days to come. 
 
 REMINISCENCES OF JOSEPH LE CONTE. 
 
 BY JOHN MUIR. 
 
 ""DEYOND all wealth, honor, or even health, is the attach- 
 
 ^ ment we form to noble souls." 
 
 I have been one of Joseph Le Conte's innumerable friends 
 and admirers for more than thirty years. It was in Yosemite 
 Valley that I first met him, not far from the famous rock be- 
 neath the shadow of which he died. With a party of his 
 students he was making his first excursion into the high 
 Sierra, and it was delightful to see with what eager, joyful, 
 youthful enthusiasm he reveled in the sublime beaut}^ of the 
 great Valley, and tried to learn how it was made. His fame 
 had already reached me, though he had then been only a year 
 or two in California, and, like everybody else, I was at once 
 drawn to him by the charm of his manners, as to a fine lake 
 or a mountain; and when he kindly invited me to join his 
 party, of course I gladly left all my other work and followed 
 him. This first Le Conte excursion, with its grand landscapes 
 and weather and delightful campfire talks, though now far 
 back in the days of auld lang syne, still remains in mind 
 bright and indestructible, like glacial inscriptions on granite. 
 
2IO The University of Calijoriiia Magazine. 
 
 We left the Valley by the Coulterville trail, then, turning 
 to the eastward, climbed in long, wavering curves and zigzags 
 through the glorious forests of silver fir north of Yosemite, 
 across the dome-paved basin of Yosemite Creek, along the 
 southern slopes of Mt. Hoffmann, down into the bright, icy 
 basin of Lake Tenaya, over the Merced and Tuolumne divide 
 past a multitude of sublime glacial monuments, along many 
 a mile of smooth, flowery meadows, up Mt. Dana, and down 
 Bloody Caiion to the lake and gray plains and volcanoes of 
 Mono. How the beloved Professor enjoyed all this his own 
 story best tells. Sinewy, slender, erect, he studied the grand 
 show, forgetting all else, riding with loose, dangling rein, al- 
 lowing his horse to go as it liked. He had a fine poetic ap- 
 preciation of nature, and never tired of gazing at the noble 
 forests and gardens, lakes and meadows, mountains and 
 streams, displayed along the windings of the trail, calling at- 
 tention to this and that with buoyant, sparkling delight like 
 that of a child, keeping up running all-day lectures, as if trying 
 to be the tongue of every object in sight. On calm nights by 
 the campfire he talked on the lessons of the day, blending art, 
 science, and philosophy with whatever we had seen. Any one 
 of us, by asking a question on no matter what subject, made 
 his thoughts pour forth and shine like rain, quickening, ex- 
 citing mental action, appealing to all that is noblest in life. 
 
 Our camp at Lake Tenaya was especially memorable. After 
 supper and some talk by the fire, Le Conte and I sauntered 
 through the pine groves to the shore and sat down on a big 
 rock that stands out a little way in the water. The full moon 
 and the stars filled the lake with light, and brought out the 
 rich sculpture of the walls of the basin and surrounding moun- 
 tains with marvelous clearness and beauty amid the shadows. 
 Subsiding waves made gentle heaving swells, and a slight 
 breeze ruffled the surface, giving rise to ever-changing pic- 
 tures of wondrous brightness. At first we talked freely, ad- 
 miring the silvery masses and ripples of light, and the mys- 
 tic, wavering dance of the stars and rocks and shadows re- 
 
Reminiscences oj Joseph Le Conte. 211 
 
 fleeted in the unstable mirror. But soon came perfect still- 
 ness, earth and sky were inseparably blended and spiritual- 
 ized, and we could only gaze on the celestial vision in devout, 
 silent, wondering admiration. That lake with its mountains 
 and stars, pure, serene, transparent, its boundaries lost in 
 fullness of light, is to me an emblem of the soul of our 
 friend. 
 
 Two years later we again camped together, when I was 
 leading him to some small residual glaciers I had found. But 
 his time was short; he had to get back to his class-room. I 
 suggested running away for a season or two in lime-obliterat- 
 ing wildness, and pictured the blessings that would flow from 
 truancy so pious and glorious. He smiled in sympathy with 
 an introverted look, as if recalling his own free days when 
 first he reveled in nature's wild wealth. I think it was at 
 this time he told me the grand story of his early exploring 
 trip to Lake Superior and the then wild region about the 
 headwaters of the Mississippi. And notwithstanding he ac- 
 complished so much in the short excursions which at every 
 opportunity he made, I have always thought it was to be re- 
 gretted that he allowed himself to be caught and put in pro- 
 fessional harness so early. 
 
 As a teacher he stood alone on this side of the 
 continent, and his influence no man can measure. He 
 carried his students in his heart, and was the idol of the 
 University. He had the genius of hard work which not 
 even the lassitude of sickness could stop. Few of his scholars 
 knew with what inexorable determination he toiled to keep 
 close up with the most advanced thought of the times and get 
 it into teachable form; how he listened to the speech which 
 day uttereth unto day, and gathered knowledge from every 
 source — libraries, laboratories, explorers in every field, assim- 
 ilating the results of other men's discoveries and making them 
 his own, to be given out again free as air. He had the rare 
 gift of making dim, nebulous things clear and attractive to 
 other minds, and he never lacked listeners. Always ready for 
 
212 The U?iiversiiy of Calif or 7iia Magazine. 
 
 every sort of audience, he lifted his charmed hearers up and 
 away into intellectual regions they had never hoped to see or 
 dared to encounter, making the ways seem easy, paths of 
 pleasantness and peace, like a mountaineer who, anxious to 
 get others onto commanding peaks, builds a trail for them, 
 winding hither and thither through the midst of toil-beguiling 
 beauty to summits whence the infinitely varied features of the 
 landscape are seen in one harmony, and all boundaries are 
 transparent and become outlets into celestial space. 
 
 Joseph I^e Conte was not a leader, and he was as far as pos- 
 sible from being what is called "a good fighter, or hater." 
 Anything like a quarrel or hot controversy he instinctively 
 avoided, went serenely on his way, steeping everything in 
 philosophy, overcoming evil with good. His friends were all 
 who knew him, and he had besides the respect of the whole 
 community, hopefully showing that however bad the world 
 may be, it is good enough to recognize a good man. 
 
 In the winter of 1874 or '5 I made the acquaintance of his 
 beloved brother, John. The two with their families were then 
 living together in a queer old house in Oakland, and I spent 
 many pleasant evenings with them. The brothers and John's 
 son Julian were invariably found reading or writing. Joseph, 
 turning down his book, would draw me out on my studies in 
 the Sierra, and we were occasionally joined by John when some 
 interesting question of physics caught his attention, — the car- 
 rying force of water at different velocities, how boulders were 
 shoved or rolled on sea beaches or in river channels, glacial 
 denudation, etc. I noticed that when diflficulties on these 
 and kindred subjects came up Joseph turned to his brother, 
 and always, I think, regarded him intellectually as greater 
 than himself. Once he said to me: "The public don't know 
 my brother for half what he is; only in purely scientific cir- 
 cles is he known. There he is well known and appreciated as 
 one of the greatest physicists in America, He seems to have 
 less vitality than I have, seldom lectures outside of his class- 
 room, cares nothing for popularity: but he is one of the most 
 
Joseph Le Cojite. 213 
 
 amiable of men as well as one of the most profound and orig- 
 inal of thinkers." In face and manners he was like his 
 brother, and had the same genial disposition and intellectual 
 power. But he was less influential as a teacher than Joseph, 
 held straighter forward on his own way, doing original and 
 purely scientific work, and loved to dwell on the heights out 
 of sight of common minds. Few of his students could follow 
 him in his lectures, for his aims were high and the trails he 
 made were steep, but all were his devoted admirers. Until 
 John's death, some ten years ago, the brothers were always 
 spoken of as "the two Le Contes." In my mind they still 
 stand together, a blessed pair, twin stars of purest light. 
 Their writings brought them world-wide renown, and their 
 names will live, but far more important is the inspiring, up- 
 lifting, enlightening influence they exerted on their students 
 and the community, which, spreading from mind to mind, 
 heart to heart, age to age, in ever widening circles, will go on 
 forever. 
 
 JOSEPH LE CONTE. 
 
 BY INA COOI.BRITH. 
 
 What words can add unto his fame, 
 
 Or greener make his well-won bays? ' 
 
 Himself has deathless writ his name. 
 His life-work is his noblest praise. 
 
 No man was cast in gentler mould, 
 Yet stronger none in firm command. 
 
 His thought our lesser thought controlled, 
 Our hearts he held within his hand. 
 
 And Heaven so close about him lay 
 While still earth's lowly plane he trod, 
 
 He might not miss its shining way: 
 
 Who walks with nature walks with God. 
 
214 '^^^^ University of California Magazine. 
 
 THE GEOLOGICAL WORK OF PROFESSOR JOSEPH 
 
 LE CONTE. 
 
 By JOHN C. MERRIAM. 
 
 PROFESSOR LE CONTE seems to have been first at- 
 tracted to geological work by coming in contact with 
 Dr. James Hall, the famous leader of the earlier geological 
 school in this country. Up to the time of his first meeting 
 with Hall, he had shown interest in geology, but was princi- 
 pally concerned with problems belonging in other branches of 
 science. Though the first great stimulus to this work was 
 received from Hall, his career in this field really began after 
 his interests became identified with those of the University of 
 California. The greater number of his contributions to geo- 
 logical science, both descriptive and philosophic, are based 
 upon observations made on the Pacific Coast. 
 
 Professor Le Conte's work was in general the study of the 
 greater problems in geology, rather than the description of 
 isolated phenomena. He never mistook the geological sym- 
 bol for the thing it represented, and he was never mislead by 
 anything foreign to the problem he sought to solve. 
 
 Though not generally considered a field geologist, he made 
 extensive excursions to the regions of greatest interest on 
 this coast. A considerable part of the Sierra range was ex- 
 plored by him, and his mountain study was carried north into 
 Oregon and Washington. On his summer excursions he was 
 not infrequently accompanied by students from his classes in 
 the University. 
 
 Although his greatest interest seems to have centered 
 around problems concerning the relation of the greater physi- 
 cal changes, especially crustal movements, to the evolution of 
 the organic world, he furnished important contributions to 
 nearly all branches of geology. On the purely mineralogical 
 
The Geological Work of Prof, foseph Le CoJiie. 215 
 
 or chemical side, we find him adding to our knowledge of 
 metalliferous veins, and he is generally recognized as one of 
 the authorities on this subject. On the physical side, he in- 
 terested himself in the carrying power of water and in the 
 exact study of earthquake waves. In palaeontological work 
 his description and discussion of the famous Carson foot- 
 prints, which was actually the first on that subject to be com- 
 pleted, is a truly remarkable piece of investigation. Much of 
 his most important work was in the field of general inorganic 
 geology. Here he contributed largely to the literature on the 
 origin and formation of mountains, the evolution of conti- 
 nental masses, the permanence of continents and ocean ba- 
 sins, movements of the earth's crust and their causes, the 
 great lava flood of the northwest, Mono volcanoes, and the 
 glacial geology of the Sierras. He was also an active worker 
 in historical geology, and some of his latest publications on 
 critical periods in the earth's history and the Sierran (Ozark- 
 ian) epoch open practically new territory for research. 
 
 The work which Professor L,e Conte accomplished in geol- 
 ogy shows throughout a conception of the relations of the 
 various branches of natural science to each other such as has 
 been possessed by but few. To the close of his life he kept 
 himself perfectly informed on all the important work being 
 done in the natural history sciences, and owing to his wide 
 field of vision he was frequently able to determine at a glance 
 the proper relation of things, which others, limited to a nar- 
 row field, could not possibly discern. This is shown very fre- 
 quently in his combination of the good points of several quite 
 different theories bearing on the same subject. Many of his 
 contributions, more especially those on critical periods in the 
 earth's history, show just such a grasp of the whole subject of 
 geological and biological science. In this work he called at- 
 tention, as had never been done before, to the eflfect of com- 
 plex physical changes, such as critical movements and modi- 
 fications of climate on the progress of organic evolution. 
 
 Through all of his contributions to historical geology, there 
 
2i6 The University of California Magazine. 
 
 runs as the central idea the theory of organic evolution. The 
 fossil forms preserved to us from past periods were not consid- 
 ered by him simply as curiosities which were interesting be- 
 cause they happened to appear strange to us, but rather as the 
 sacred remains left by a countless succession of generations 
 which has passed to us, along an unbroken chain, the princi- 
 ple or germ of life. Probably no other writer in the field ef 
 historical geology has made such successful use of the evolu- 
 tionary or narrative style of the treatment of the subject. 
 Though Professor Le Conte ascribes the first use of this 
 method to Dana, it is probably true that his own work had 
 great influence in finally bringing Dana to the point where he 
 could unreservedly accept evolution as based on actual his- 
 toric succession. In his later lectures and discussions of the 
 theory of evolution, to which he has contributed so much, he 
 placed the strongest emphasis on what has been rather than 
 what jnight be. 
 
 In his intercourse with other scientific men Professor I^e 
 Conte was always helpful, sympathetic, and appreciative. He 
 always gave freely of his store of knowledge in assisting oth- 
 ers to solve problems which refused to yield to them. Though 
 he engaged in many discussions with those whose views dif- 
 fered from his own, he made no enemies. Always respecting 
 others' opinions, whether he accepted them or not, he was 
 ever held in the highest respect and esteem by geologists of 
 all lands. In recognition of his services to geological sci- 
 ence, Professor I,e Conte was honored by election to the high- 
 est positions which the scientific associations of this country 
 could confer. He served as President of the American Geo- 
 logical Society and of the American Association for the Ad- 
 vancement of Science, and had been Vice-President of the 
 International Geological Congress. 
 
 As far-reaching and as lasting as Professor Le Conte's in- 
 fluence may be seen to be among the men of his profession, it 
 will probably not exceed that which he has exerted on the 
 world at large in the capacity of instructor. In his own class- 
 
The Geological Work of Prof. Joseph Le Conte. 2 1 7 
 
 room at the University of California during more than thirty 
 years, he presented to interested audiences the best that 
 there is in his subject. Such was his power of explanation 
 and description in the lecture room that the most difficult 
 problems seemed absolutely to melt away, and after hearing 
 him on such subjects students have been known to state that 
 explanation seemed hardly necessary, as the matter was so 
 easily understood. Through the medium of his text-book, 
 "The Elements of Geology," he has covered a vastly larger 
 field than could be reached in his lectures. Probably no col- 
 lege text-book in science has been more widely used in this 
 country than "The Elements." Certainly, there are none 
 which present in a simpler or more attractive form the ele- 
 ments of any science. His treatment of the subject was, 
 when his book first appeared, in many respects essentially 
 new, and almost for the first time it was made clear that geo- 
 logical history is only the earlier part of history in general. 
 
 With the passing of Professor lye Conte, geologists lose a 
 great contributor and leader, and the world loses a great 
 teacher. Others may arise who in scientific attainment in 
 this particular branch of research will perhaps stand in the 
 same rank with him, but it will be long before we find again 
 in one man that combination of qualities which has made 
 Professor Le Conte not only one of the most successful gath- 
 erers of knowledge, but also one of the foremost teachers. 
 
2i8 The University of California Magazi7ie. 
 
 PROFESSOR LE CONTE AS SEEN THROUGH HIS 
 
 BIOLOGICAL WORK. 
 
 BY WM. E. RITTER. 
 
 IT is not my purpose to give liere either a historical review 
 of Professor Joseph L,e Conte's biological work or a 
 critical estimate of its value. The former would not be of 
 much interest in itself. The latter, if done at all by any of us 
 who were his intimate associates, must be a task for the future 
 after time shall have given his deeds chance to regain in our 
 minds some poition of the room now filled by the sense of de- 
 privation and grief at the departure from us forever of the 
 rare man, the beloved master, the dear friend. What inter- 
 ests us now above all else is the man himself. 
 
 My primary aim shall be consequently to make the consid- 
 eration of his biological work contribute to the gaining of a 
 fuller and clearer view of the man, his life, his ideals. 
 
 Professor Le Conte's first allegiance was to geology rather 
 than biology. He himself freely owned this, and it was uni- 
 versally recognized among his scientific contemporaries. It 
 is significant, however, that his early training was more bio- 
 logical than geological; that some of his earliest and his very 
 last scientific papers were biological; and that his most origi- 
 nal and probably most enduring work was in this domain. 
 
 The study and practice of medicine, to which he devoted 
 seven years, between the ages of twenty and twenty-seven, were 
 for him, as they should be for all devotees of this noble profess- 
 ion, a biological matter; and later his training under Louis 
 Agassiz was more biological than geological, for Agassiz was 
 primarily a zoologist. 
 
 Among his earliest writings, the papers which bring out 
 best not only the scope but also the philosophical cast of his 
 knowledge in the biological sciences, three are preeminent. 
 
Prof. Le Conte as Seen Through His Biological Work. 219 
 
 The first, chronologically, published in 1850 while he was still 
 a practicing physician, is "On the Science of Medicine, and 
 Causes Which Have Retarded Its Progress," The second, 
 bearing the date of 1858 and entitled "Morphology and Its 
 Connection With Fine Art," gives more fully and clearly than 
 can be gained elsewhere the doctrine of organic creation 
 then held by him. The third, read at the American Associa- 
 tion for the Advancement of Science in 1859 and published 
 the same year, is on "The Correlation of Physical, Chemical 
 and Vital Force, and the Conservation of Force in Vital Phe- 
 nomena," This is undoubtedly one of his most important 
 contributions to biological thought. His very last published 
 words are in the form of a note in Science^ June 21, 1901, on 
 "What Is lyife?" His investigations in sight, particularly 
 in binocular vision, were, in his own estimation, the most 
 original and independent of his work. 
 
 I believe, too, that in his biological rather than his geologi- 
 cal writings we find most fully displayed the catholicity of his 
 mind toward natural phenomena. Nowhere in geology did 
 he penetrate deeply in technical minutiae. Had we his geologi- 
 cal work only to judge from, we might conclude that he was 
 deficient in the capacity for and delight in that patient, minute 
 working out of details so essential to the highest, safest 
 achievement in any province of physical science. One has, 
 however, but to follow through carefully Part III of the last 
 edition of the volume on "Sight" to find that he did possess 
 it in an eminent degree. Here, far more than anywhere else 
 in his published writings, is displayed the mathematical- 
 physical quality of his mind, which he inherited from his 
 father, and which came out so prominently in his brother, 
 John L,e Conte. 
 
 His way of seeing natural phenomena in the large, and his 
 remarkable power of finding the unifying principles and laws 
 underlying them, though perhaps brought to bear in geology 
 more fruitfully for the science itself than in biology, is shown 
 in its full breadth, and to the understanding of a larger public 
 
220 The University of California Magazine. 
 
 in biology than in geology. His numerous discussions of the 
 relation of science to education, art, sociology, philosophy, and 
 religion, have undoubtedly had the widest influence of all his 
 works ou the thought of his generation. 
 
 A systematic examination of his utterances in this province 
 shows them to be essentially a defence of the proposition that 
 human life, whatever else it may be, is still fundamentally 
 akin to all life; and hence that the basal idea of biology — 
 Life; and the distinctive method of biological science, the 
 comparative method — must be carried into all investigation and 
 treatment of human life and society. 
 
 Nearly all his papers of this class are, in keeping with 
 this general purpose, first, a presentation of the data and 
 fundamental conceptions of biology with some illustration of 
 the comparative method; and, second, a projection of these 
 data and conceptions and methods into the particular topic 
 under consideration. 
 
 For example, his early essay on "Morphology and Its 
 Connection With Fine Art," already referred to, is quite an 
 extensive treatise on the doctrine of organic types held at that 
 time by some of the foremost biologists, with a consideration 
 of the laws of modification within the types. These types are 
 the expression of Divine ideas; the working out of them in 
 nature is God's way of giving his ideas for7n. Nature, then, 
 is Divine art wrought out by the hand of the Divine artist. 
 Human art is true art, consequently, in so far as it obeys the 
 laws and follows the example of Divine art, which is nature. 
 
 This early paper illustrates so well the method of all his 
 later thinking in these directions, it will be profitable to see 
 some of its expressions themselves. "We have seen," he 
 says, "that in all organic nature we find everywhere some 
 simple idea infinitely modified. DiflFerentiation of a simple 
 elementary form and specialization of function, resulting in 
 mutual dependence of parts, is the fundamental idea of organ- 
 ization, the very idea of life, the very principle of Divine 
 architecture. Now, is not this the principle, too, unconsciously 
 
Prof. Le Conte as See?i Through His Biological Work. 221 
 
 applied, of the highest human architecture ? In the best spec- 
 imens of Gothic architecture — e. g., how often do we find the 
 same elementary form repeated ad iyifiyiiieum ^ under various 
 disguises, according to the functions of the several parts. 
 * * * Is not this differentiation of simple elementary form 
 and specialization of function? Is it not the mutual and har- 
 monious dependence of parts which constitutes true organic 
 unity? Is it not organization? Is it not life? We believe 
 that this idea of organic unity is the basis of all art." 
 
 Likewise, an analysis of his numerous papers on the rela- 
 tion of biology to sociology will show the same thing: A 
 setting forth of the data and conceptions and methods of bio- 
 logical science first; then the application of these to the sci- 
 ence of huniaa society. 
 
 I must not dwell further on this matter. It will suflSce 
 for the present to point out that of the 340 pages constituting 
 the volume on "Evolution and Its Relation to Religious 
 Thought," 250 are a treatise on organic evolution, pure and 
 simple. 
 
 The preponderance of his early training distinctly on the 
 side of biology; possessed of so strong a predilection for phil- 
 osophical contemplation of the phenomena of life, and such 
 sympathy for it as it manifests itself in human kind, the ques- 
 tion inevitably arises, why did he choose to make geology 
 rather than biology his central concern ? 
 
 It should be observed that the decision could not have rested 
 in this instance as in many another on the ground of the mere 
 circumstance of a position for winning a livelihood; for each 
 of the college professorships he was called to fill at various 
 times during his life included, like that in our own Uni- 
 versity, the two sciences on an equal footing. 
 
 He has told us that it was his meeting with James Hall, 
 for many years Chief of the New York State Geological Sur- 
 vey, that was the immediate influence in turning him to 
 geology. But there must have been something deeper than 
 mere contact with a man; deeper than an}^ exterior influence, 
 
222 The University of CaliJor7iia Magazine. 
 
 in it. He did not meet Hall, if I remember correctly, until 
 some time after he had become a regular student under Agas- 
 siz; and it can hardly be supposed that Hall's enthusiasm, 
 great as it is said to have been, could have been in itself a 
 greater winning force than Agassiz's. 
 
 Strongly as biological phenomena appealed to his mind, he 
 must have found something in geology that attracted him still 
 more. Without presuming to have recognized positively and 
 fully what that something was, I believe we can detect at 
 least a part of it. 
 
 I think we may say that the science of organisms did in. 
 deed appeal to him more than any other; but for him the 
 earth was an organism. It had a beginning in a simple, hom- 
 ogeneous state; it has undergone a continuous, orderly devel- 
 opment in time through the operation of its resident forces; it 
 will have an end. 
 
 The contemplation oi forces ^x\6. processes was to him the thing 
 of supreme interest everywhere. In the biological province, it 
 was not the structure of the eye, but its mode of working and 
 its evolution that engaged his attention. It was not the his- 
 tology of the liver, but its glycogenic function that interested 
 him; not wing anatomy, but the flight of birds was it that he 
 found delight in studying. 
 
 So in geology it was not the structure of mountains, but the 
 way they were built; not the composition of ore deposits, but 
 the method of their formation that he thought upon with such 
 zeal and pleasure and acumen. 
 
 Now, the earth being for him an organism, because it is the 
 mightiest of all organisms, it attracted him more than any 
 other. 
 
 His mind could not be satisfied with generalizations about 
 nature until they had reached out to its uttermost limits, and 
 in the infinite time of geology and the immensity of earth- 
 developing forces, he found room for the unhampered play of 
 his scientific imagination and unexcelled powers of general- 
 ization, that he did not find in biology. 
 
Prof. Le Conte as Seen Through His Biological Work. 223 
 
 One other insight into his nature, properly obtained by ap- 
 proaching him from the biological direction, I must touch 
 upon in conclusion. I refer to his attitude toward the doc- 
 trine of evolution. This admirably illustrates both his abso- 
 lute fealty to scientific truth and the depth and sincerity of 
 his devotion to the essentials of religion. 
 
 The particularly admirable and significant thing about this 
 attitude is not that he stood as one of the ablest, fairest- 
 minded champions of both religion and evolution, but the fact 
 of his having become such a champion. It is a less distinc- 
 tion for him that he of zaf write the "Evolution in Its Relation 
 to Religious Thought" than that he coidd wni& it. Weighty 
 as are the arguments on the printed pages of the book for the 
 fundamental accord of scientific and religious truth, weightier 
 still, I think, are those it contains that are not printed at all. 
 It is the life of the man; the history of the development of 
 his mind, to be read only between the lines, that should give 
 it its greatest value, particularly for those of its readers who 
 stand chiefly on the side of religion. 
 
 Professor I^e Conte did not become an evolutionist fully un- 
 til he was fifty years old, and for most of his life before this he 
 was very far from being one. Listen to this and see what a. 
 strange sound it has in contrast with what we have all been 
 so accustomed to hear him teach: "They [organic species] 
 have remained unchanged in spite of changes in physical 
 conditions. ^ * * Physical conditions may destroy but not 
 transmute them. * * * The conclusion, therefore, is irre- 
 sistible, that organic forms have no physical cause, but they 
 must be referred directly to the Great First Cause, or else that 
 each spiicies has a distinct immaterial essence, which is the 
 cause of its specific form," These sentences were being writ- 
 ten in 1858, the very year in which Darwin's great discovery 
 of natural selection was first given to the world. The con- 
 ceptions nevertheless here given expression to were held by 
 him essentially for another decade at least; until the "Origin 
 of Species" had been long before the world, and after 
 
2^4 ^he University of California Magazine. 
 
 most biologists had gone over to the evolutionary side. Now, 
 a superficial consideration of the matter might regard his 
 slowness in accepting the doctrine as savoring somewhat of 
 narrowness and bigotry. But two facts that stand out clear 
 enough as soon as we look more carefully must dispel even a 
 suggestion of such an interpretation. In the first place, so 
 much to him by both nature and nurture was his religious 
 faith — not his theological creed — that it would have been self- 
 destructive for him to accept any scientific doctrine that his 
 reason affirmed to be in deadly opposition to that faith. To 
 estimate him fairly here, one must consider carefully his relig- 
 ious nature and training. Into this it is not my province to 
 enter now. 
 
 In the second place, it must be understood that in all things 
 and always he was philosophical. A common meeting ground 
 he always must have for two elements so large and precious 
 to his life as were his science and his religion. This he found 
 for biological science in the doctrine of organic types, first 
 made prominent in zoology by Cuvier, and later adopted and 
 defended by Sir Richard Owen and Louis Agassiz, three of 
 the greatest names, perhaps, it must be observed, in the whole 
 history of the sciences of comparative anatomy and palaeon- 
 tology. 
 
 Four and only four great types of animal organization, this 
 doctrine said. Four and only four Divine conceptions or 
 plans in the whole animal creation, round which all the 
 myriad variety of forms have been wrought out by modifica- 
 tion through the infinite wisdom and power and resource of 
 the Divine Architect. All the kinds of living things are the 
 thoughts of God. 
 
 No conception of organic creation has ever been proposed 
 that appeals to the poetic imagination so strongly as this; 
 none more better adapted to a naive faith in a personal Deity 
 imminent in the natural world. 
 
 It is certainly a lofty, ennobling conception, one that has 
 satisfied, in one form and another, both the religious and the 
 
Prof. Le Conte as a Philosopher. 225 
 
 scientific needs of some of the greatest biologists that have 
 lived. Cuvier, Owen, Agassiz, and Le Conte held it, and it 
 is worth while to be reminded that the last three were con- 
 temporaries for much of their lives and that all of them were 
 born a number of 5'ears before Cuvier died. Of them all, Le 
 Conte was the only one who gave up the doctrine and became 
 an evolutionist. 
 
 For a man of such nature as Joseph Le Conte's to have 
 wholly reconstructed his religious faith and philosophy on a 
 higher plane after forty-five, is certainly one of the hardest, 
 noblest acts he could possibly perform. 
 
 PROFESSOR LE CONTE AS A PHILOSOPHER. 
 
 BY CHARLES M. BAKEWELL. 
 
 « 
 
 STUDENTS of philosophy have especial occasion to mourn 
 the loss of Professor Le Conte. He was one of the last 
 representatives of that nobler race of scientists who labored in- 
 cessantly to find through their very scientific investigations a 
 larger and richer world-view; who sought through science a 
 way of life more religious than that of the ordinary traditional 
 believer, more philosophic than that of the ordinary cloistral 
 philosopher. Scientists of the present generation are apt to be 
 more timid, to have an unwholesome dread of the charge of 
 being "unscientific," and to hesitate, at least in print, to step 
 beyond the prescribed limits of their chosen fields of investi- 
 gation. 
 
 Professor Le Conte was, to be sure, interested in his science 
 for its own sake, and attained marked eminence among his 
 specialist brethren; but he was, first of all, a man, interested 
 in all things human, and particularly in those questions that 
 go deepest into human nature, which are precisely the ques- 
 tions of philosophy and religion. He knew that, as a man, he 
 did not live merely in the world of geologj', or in the world 
 
226 The University of California Magazine. 
 
 of biology; that, as a man, he was bound to take sides im- 
 plying a definite attitude toward all reality. He knew that 
 one's "way of life" is in itself an implicit philosphy, true or 
 false; and, believing thus philosophy to be inevitable, he held, 
 with Socrates, that "an unexamined life is not worthy to be 
 lived by a ma7iy 
 
 The master generalization of science of his day is contained 
 in the the theory of evolution, — a theory which certainly at 
 first sight seems to make of man a mere thing among things, 
 a mere creature of cosmic causes, and therefore neither free, 
 nor yet immortal; a theory which seems to substitute for the 
 personal God of religion a blind, immanent force. Professor 
 Le Conte was but gradually won over to full acceptance of 
 this theory, of which he was to become such a famous ex- 
 pounder, and this fact was due, I think, to religious misgiv- 
 ings quite as much as to scientific caution. "Our faith in the 
 Infinite Righteousness," he used to say, "is founded on just 
 the same ground as cur indestructible faith in the Reign of 
 L,aw in the natural world, and is just as reasonable."* And 
 so he must first assure himself that the theory of evolution 
 did no violence to the moral needs of man, for he felt that if 
 it did, it must in the end do violence to his intellectual needs 
 as well. 
 
 However that may be, Professor Le Conte's contributions to 
 philosophy are found in his discussions of these cardinal ques- 
 tions: the existence of God, the freedom and immortality of 
 man, and the closely allied question as to the meaning of 
 evil. 
 
 From one point of view his work here seems mainly 
 to consist in the attempt to quash the negative answer, 
 which some over-confident evolutionists would forthworth 
 make to these questions, and to do this by emphasizing 
 the fact that the theory of evolution, being simply a reading 
 of the zvay in which phenomena occur, can tell us nothing 
 with regard to the groiind of phenomena, and therefore as lit- 
 
 *"The Conception of God," p. 71. 
 
Prof. Le Conte as a Philosopher. 227 
 
 tie affects our idealism, our theism, or our views with regard 
 to the moral problem, as does any other generalization of sci- 
 ence, for example, the law of gravitation. All such general- 
 izations, to be sure, unify experience, and in so far eliminate 
 the possibility of special providence. The evolutionist must 
 therefore indeed say: If there is a God, he is in very much 
 more intimate relation to nature and to man than is supposed 
 in popular anthropomorphic conceptions of deity; if there is a 
 free and immortal soul, none the less, the body, with which 
 the soul is in some mysterious way united, must appear sim- 
 ply as one particular physical fact, having its place in a world 
 of such facts completely unified by the conception of evolu- 
 tion. 
 
 There is, however. Professor Le Conte held, an inner as 
 well as an outer aspect of experience; there are feelings, 
 thoughts, volitions, as well as stocks and stones, matter and 
 motion. No one has ever succeeded, or, he added, ever will 
 succeed, in showing how the material evolves into the mental, 
 how motion in matter — even nervous matter — can be trans- 
 muted into thought. There is an impassable gulf fixed be- 
 tween these two orders of experience.* Has, then, evolution 
 nothing to say with regard to this inner aspect of experience? 
 Yes. When psychology becomes comparative psychology we 
 are able to trace a separate evolutional process in the mental 
 series that is precisely analogous to the evolutional process in 
 the physical series. Thus we are led to believe that "the 
 spirit of man was developed out of the aninia or conscious 
 principle of animals, and that this, again, was developed out 
 of the lower forms of life- force, and this in its turn out of the 
 chemical and physical forces of Nature, and that at a certain 
 stage in this gradual development, viz., with man, it acquired 
 the property of immortality. "f And Professor Le Conte was 
 fond of picturing, iu characteristically striking imagery, the 
 manner in which the evolutional process may be conceived as 
 
 ♦"Evolution and Its Relation to Religious Thought," pp. 290 ff. 
 top. cit., p, 205. 
 
228 The University of California Magazine. 
 
 preparing the way for the final emergence of the free and im- 
 mortal spirit.* 
 
 If we carry the analogy of the relation between inner and 
 outer over to the entire world of nature, then God may be 
 conceived as the a7iima vnmdi^ and the world of things, while 
 remaining mere objects for us, as stubborn and refractory as 
 you please, maybe conceived as God's thoughts objectified, — f 
 a position that suggests Berkeley's famous saying that na- 
 ture is "Divine visual language," is God's way of talking to 
 man. God is regarded, in other words, as immanent in na- 
 ture; the physical and chemical forces are a part of the Divine 
 energy "in a diffused, unindividuated state." Gradually a 
 part of this part becomes individuated and self-active, at first 
 partially so, in plant and animal, at last completely so, in man 
 as a moral person. ;{: 
 
 Professor Le Conte did not, however, rest content with 
 showing how the world might be conceived from the stand- 
 point of evolution so as not to interfere with our fundamental 
 religious beliefs, and thus leave the door open for faith to 
 bring them in. He held that the theory of evolution fur- 
 nished a positive inductive argument for the existence of 
 God, and for the immortality of the soul. Evolution discov- 
 ers a general trend of development, an upward and onward 
 progress, which clearly points beyond to the perfect goal. 
 The meaning of the whole process, and of every part of it, is 
 found in this perfect goal, which must therefore be as real as 
 any of the steps to which it gives meaning. 
 
 Similarly in the case of the individual, the meaning of the 
 struggle from consciousness to self-consciousness, and of the 
 further struggles in the journey through life from conscious- 
 ness to moral consciousness, is lost if death end all, for then 
 man must be forever chasing an ignis fatuus, forever stretch- 
 
 *Esp. op. cit., p. 300. The metaphors here used frequently recur in Professor Le 
 Conte's writings. 
 
 top. cit., p. 2S3. 
 ^''Conceptions 01 God," p. 76. 
 
Prof. Le Conie as a Philosopher. 229 
 
 ing out after ideals hopelessly beyond his reach. Further- 
 more, the sole purpose of the progressive individuation of the 
 Divine energy by evolution is that God may have in man 
 "something not only to contemplate, but also to love and be 
 loved by." And "without immortality this whole purpose is 
 balked — the whole process of cosmic evolution is futile."* 
 
 The position is thus, at bottom, a simple expression of trust 
 in the complete rationality of the universe, a profession of 
 faith in reason which has become a faith but the more surely 
 grounded by the scientific discoveries of the orderliness and 
 reasonableness of nature's ways. 
 
 In his treatment of the problem of evil Professor Le Conte 
 held that physical evil is the necessary price of the intelligent, 
 moral evil the inevitable condition of the moral, personality. 
 Men might conceivably have been created innocent, but not 
 morally good. Choice of the good, which morality implies, is 
 only possible for one who has also the knowledge of evil. 
 And the sting which lurks in this doctrine, so far as moral 
 degenerates and other unfortunates are concerned, is re- 
 moved by the conviction of the essential deathlessness of the 
 self-conscious personality. 
 
 Professor Le Conte' s favorite method consisted in bringing 
 forward upon each topic treated two opposing, and apparently 
 equally plausible, views, and then showing that usuall)' each 
 was right in what it asserted and wrong in what it denied; 
 that both were partial truths which could be welded together 
 into a higher synthesis,— a method which to the student of 
 philosophy will at once suggest the Hegelian dialectic, with 
 its triune forward movement. 
 
 Suggestive also of Hegel is Professor Le Conte' s general 
 conception of reality as one eternal consciousness which 
 "outers" itself in the world of nature, while remaining one 
 with itself throughout, is immanent in this world as its one 
 moving principle; and his methcd of escape from the panthe- 
 ism implied in this view by holding that this consciousness is 
 
 *"The Conception of God," pp. 77-S. 
 
230 The University of California Magazine. 
 
 Infinite Benevolence, and that it is the very life of its being to 
 bring to life other beings, which, while springing from it, 
 shall be none the less independent and free, the responsible 
 agents of their own deeds. 
 
 If asked to explain how this could be, and further, how a 
 free spirit could originate acts in a world ruled by divine law 
 and necessity, — as he held the world to be, — Professor L,e 
 Coute would shake his head and reply in his well-known, de- 
 liberate, emphatic way: "I do not know. It is a 77iystery, 
 but a mystery upon which we may not unreasonably hope 
 some day to have more light," 
 
 In what I have said above I have confined myself strictly 
 to a statement of Professor L,e Conte's position, made, as far as 
 possible, in his own words. Brief as the statement is, it will, 
 I trust, make evident the fact that Professor Le Conte's was 
 a genuinely philosophical mind. We can onl}' regret that he 
 did not find occasion, amid the stress of other duties, to elab- 
 orate and develop more in detail his philosophical views, and 
 particularly his significant attempt to effect the "higher syn- 
 thesis" of monism and pluralism by regarding reality as orig- 
 inally One, but, at the same time, as a One whose very life- 
 purpose it is to acheive, through means of nature, a v/orld of 
 many spirits, each of whom is independent and free and ab- 
 solutely real, and, therefore, capable of communing with 
 Him, — a view which he summed up in the sentence; "Nature 
 is the womb in which, and evolution the process by which, 
 are generated sons of God."* 
 
 This is a unique position which must henceforth be reck- 
 oned with by all who would comprehend this all-important 
 philosophical issue. 
 
 *"The Conceptiou of God," p. 78. 
 

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Joseph Le Conte at Yosemiie. 231 
 
 JOSEPH LE CONTE AT YOSEMITE. 
 JUI.Y 4-6, 1901. 
 
 BY EDWARD ROBESON TAYLOR. 
 
 "If it were now to die, 
 'T were now to be most happy " 
 
 Othello. 
 
 His hoary head, lustrous with all that's best 
 Of humankind, by fame immortal made, 
 In death's last agony he meetly laid 
 Upon Yosemite's titanic breast. 
 
 For years their mutual love had been confessed. 
 And when once more her glories he surveyed, 
 Such raptures in his deepest bosom played, 
 Fate dared not tempt him further to be blest. 
 
 Her beauteous leaves of cedar, oak and pine. 
 She lavish gave for garlands to entwine 
 His coffin fashioned from her teeming store ; 
 
 And 'neath the reverent gaze of her great walls, 
 While throbbed in muffled tones her saddened falls 
 His clay, star-lighted, left her evermore. 
 
 AN ESTIMATE OF THE LIFE WORK OF DR. 
 JOSEPH LE CONTE. 
 
 BY EUGENE W. HILGARD. 
 
 npHE death of Dr. Joseph Le Conte removes one of the 
 -■- foremost thinkers and scientific men of the time; one 
 whose writings and modes of thought have influenced the pro- 
 gress of science, and of scientific as well as popular opinion, 
 throughout the civilized world. He was prominent in the 
 now fast-thinning ranks of those who, like Louis Agassiz, J. 
 D. Dana and Asa Gray, in the New, and L)^ell, Oersted, Dar- 
 win and Wallace, in the Old World, thought and found it not 
 only possible but necessary to be something more than spe- 
 
232 The University of Califoryiia Magaziiie. 
 
 cialists in one domain of science, in order to understand its 
 full meanings and bearings upon other branches, and its place 
 in the world-plan. Le Conte never doubted the existence of 
 such a plan, and he looked upon nature reverently as one part 
 of its manifestations; but without undervaluing for a moment 
 the other, the spiritual part, which is now so commonly cast 
 aside as a mere "property of matter in an advanced state of 
 evolution;" while, on the other hand, there are still those who 
 claim to evolve its nature from their inner consciousness, in- 
 dependently of observed phenomena. 1,6 Conte's early edu- 
 cation and experience as a physician laid the foundations of 
 the broad knowledge which later made him equally at home 
 in the purely phj'sical sciences and in the biological field. 
 While his geological writings are, perhaps, best known to the 
 American public, through the wide use made of his books on 
 that subject, both in universities and in the secondary schools, 
 his early and warm advocacy of the doctrine of evolution has 
 probably served most to make him known and appreciated in 
 the Old World, where he was warmly welcomed and honored 
 in scientific assemblies, among the foremost men. His elec- 
 tion to the Presidency of the International Geological Con- 
 gress, held at Washington in 1891, and to that of the Ameri- 
 can Association for the Advancement of Science in 1892, were 
 manifestations of the high esteem in which he was held by 
 his scientific colleagues. 
 
 It is sometimes said that those who undertake to generalize 
 in science are apt to be unable to make accurate observations 
 themselves. While this is true in some cases, it was certainly 
 otherwise in that of Le Conte. His scientific writings and 
 special papers show an eminent capacity for close observation; 
 yet his glance was always upon the bearings of what he saw, 
 upon general problems rather than upon the minor details of 
 each field of view, which he was quite content to leave to oth- 
 ers. At the same time, he had the true scientific spirit in the 
 absence of all dogmatism, and the readiness at all times to 
 consider candidly any observations or opinions at variance 
 
A71 Estimate of the Life Work of Dr. Joseph Lc Conte. 233 
 
 with his previous conclusions. He considered the cultivation 
 of the spirit of truthfulness, candor, and readiness to revise 
 one's opinions and conclusions, as constituting one of the 
 strongest claims of natural science as an educational factor; 
 in contradistinction to the acceptance of mere opinions and 
 precedents that is so common a result of exclusive literary and 
 philosophical study. The personal gentleness for which he 
 was so well known and beloved, was deeply grounded in the 
 absence of any claim to infallibility for himself. 
 
 It is not easy to overestimate the influence he has exerted 
 in rectifying the popular idea that the doctrine of evolution 
 necessarily tends to materialism, if not atheism; a misconcep- 
 tion of its true import which is unfortunately still shared in 
 by the extremists both on the scientific and religious side. 
 L,e Conte held that so far from this, it inculcates the highest 
 ideal of an intelligent world-plan; and he staunchly maintained 
 not only its compatibility with Christian religious belief, but 
 that by elevating nature into the realm of teleologic thought 
 and aspiration, it ofifers a much higher point of view than 
 could be derived from any of the "orthodox" views of the 
 method of Creation. This part of his influence will, perhaps, 
 be most missed in the present state and tendency of scientific 
 thought; particularly among the younger men of science, 
 whose eagerness to specialize prematurely almost inevitably 
 tends to prevent such catholicity of views and encyclopedic 
 knowledge as characterized Dr. L,e Conte. Among the means 
 by which he was enabled to maintain a working acquaintance 
 with the rapid progress in all the sciences, was his habit of 
 conscientiously keeping up a compact but comprehensive 
 ^Hndex rerum'' in which he noted all the new or otherwise im- 
 portant scientific and philosophic papers that came under his 
 notice; and his ready reference to the latest investigations and 
 discussions of almost 2,wy of the subjects in which he was inter- 
 ested — and there were few in which he was not — was a con- 
 stant surprise to those who consulted him. He thus avoided 
 overloading his mind with a multitude of details not necessary 
 
234 ^^^^ University of California Magazine. 
 
 to the main questions involved. It is hoped that this precious 
 record will be deposited in the library of the Universitj', 
 
 It was Le Conte through whom the University of California 
 first became known to the outside world as a school and center 
 of science on the western border of the continent; and for a 
 number of years he almost alone kept it in view of the world 
 of science. His presence and connection with the University 
 was largely instrumental in attracting to it other men who 
 otherwise would have hesitated to emigrate from their Eastern 
 homes to what was then the outskirts of civilization; and his 
 ceaseless scientific activity acted as a strong stimulus both to 
 his colleagues and to the students coming under his instruc- 
 tion, whose affection and esteem remained with him through 
 life. He preferred this kind of activity to the more ambitious 
 prospects that were many times open to him; he shrank from 
 anything that would force him from the ideal world in which 
 he lived, into active contact with executive or administrative 
 functions. His modesty and simplicity survived, unscathed, 
 the applause and laudations bestowed upon him, and his 
 strong will and cheerful disposition carried him up to a ma- 
 ture age in undiminished mental vigor, despite an apparently 
 frail body. 
 
 His death brings heavy loss to the University and to the 
 world of thought at large. His place cannot be filled, and 
 the statement that no attempt will be made to do so, is but a 
 natural expression of the high and exceptional position he oc- 
 cupied in the world of science. 
 
The Unpublished Works of Joseph Le Cotite. 235 
 
 THE UNPUBI.ISHED WORKS OF JOSEPH LE CONTE. 
 
 BY MARY BELI.. 
 
 A T the time of Professor Le Conte's death in the Yoseinite 
 -^^ Valley, on July 6, 1901, he had completed the autobi- 
 ography of his life. This work, consisting of probably two 
 hundred thousand words, was written in Georgia dur- 
 ing the winter before his death. Professor Le Conte 
 also left a journal of three months' personal experiences dur- 
 ing the last days of the Confederacy. This is full of exciting 
 details of the rescue of his daughter from the Federal lines 
 and the burning of Columbia. Besides these are innumerable 
 unpublished lectures, after-dinner speeches and many pamph- 
 lets that have not yet been collected in a permanent form. 
 
 In the autobiography of Joseph Le Conte, there is a loug 
 account of his Huguenot ancestry. Guillaume Le Conte fied 
 from Rouen after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, served 
 under William of Orange in England and finally came to 
 America in 1698, settling near New York. Louis Le Conte, 
 ten years after graduating from Columbia in iSoo, removed 
 to Liberty Count}', Georgia, where he had inherited a large 
 plantation. Here he married Ann Ouarterman, a lady of 
 English Puritan descent, and of these parents Joseph Le 
 Conte was born February 26, 1823. There were seven 
 children, Joseph being the youngest of the four sons. 
 
 The best of Joseph Le Conte's early education was received 
 on the large plantation where every kind of industry was con- 
 ducted, including weaving, spinning, shoemaking, the manu- 
 facturing of farm implements and harness and the making of fire- 
 arms. All of the necessaries, even some of the luxuries of life on 
 the old Southern plantation, were produced where the Le Conte 
 children could daily watch the negro laborers at work under 
 the overseers. The boys frequently entered with interest into 
 
236 The University of California Magazine. 
 
 the work of farming and manufacturing. There is a long 
 account, in the autobiography, of the making of a gun by one 
 of the older brothers in the family. 
 
 Ivike all Southern boys the Le Contes were taught the use 
 of a gun, and Joseph was congratulated upon the killing of 
 his first squirrel at a very early age. The death of the little 
 animal, however, caused the young hunter more grief than 
 pride in his achievement. 
 
 The father of Joseph Le Conte was a man of great culture, 
 possessed of a fine scientific mind. His relation to his children 
 was intimate and very beautiful, and he took great pains to 
 give them opportunities for observation and the accumulation 
 of practical knowledge. Long before the days of kinder- 
 gartens, he instinctively trained his children by the best of 
 those methods. His mother was very musical and artistic, 
 and from her Joseph received the taste for the beautiful that 
 ennobled his science. 
 
 The Le Conte children daily walked to the little country 
 school, followed by a small negro with their lunch basket. 
 Of the teachers in this school none influenced the life of Joseph 
 to any extent, save Alexander Stephens, afterwards vice-presi- 
 dent of the Confederacy and governor of his state. Georgia 
 conferred upon Stephens every possible honor. Professor Le 
 Conte frequently met Mr. Stephens in the South and in Wash- 
 ington, and the famous statesman always spoke of the great 
 influence that Louis Le Conte had exerted over him. 
 
 When Joseph entered the University of Georgia, he was 
 strong, athletic, a good swimmer, fond of the hunt and of all 
 out of door life. In the University his place was recognized 
 as that of a distinguished student, an athlete and a debator. 
 In the Phi Kappa Society, he took part in many debates, 
 thereby gaining that power of expression that made him suc- 
 cessful as a public speaker. 
 
 After graduating from the University of Georgia, Joseph 
 and his brother John entered the College of Physicians and 
 Surgeons in New York. 
 
The Unpublished Works of Joseph Le Conte. 237 
 
 When twenty-one years of age, the year before his degree as 
 Doctor of Medicine was conferred, the subject of this sketch 
 made his first noteworthy geological excursion. In his autobi- 
 ography this prospecting and exploring expedition to the now 
 famous mining district of the south shore of Lake Superior, is 
 dwelt upon with keen pleasure as being the means of leading the 
 young student into the field of science in which he gained dis- 
 tinction. In this expedition, which was the first of its kind, 
 the travelers cruised in boats from the lower lakes to Keewe- 
 naw Point, where they had many adventures in the prospec- 
 tors' camp. From this place Le Conte and his cousin went 
 with the gold hunters and some Indians on a long canoe vo}'- 
 age along the south shore to the present site of Duluth, and 
 thence to the upper waters of the Mississippi and down to the 
 Falls of St. Anthony. The part of the country along which 
 they traveled was entirely uninhabited, and upon the site of 
 the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul not a cabin was raised. 
 
 Dr. Le Conte began the practice of medicine in Macon, 
 Georgia, in 1845. In 1847 he married Caroline Elizabeth 
 Nisbet. They had four children. Two married daughters 
 are now living in Georgia, while a daughter and a son lately 
 married are living in Berkeley with Mrs. Le Conte. 
 
 In 1850 attracted by the fame of Agassiz, Le Conte decided, 
 almost within a day, to give up medicine, which had never 
 been a congenial profession to him, and so leaving their newly 
 built home, Mr. and Mrs. Le Conte went to Cambridge, where 
 their second child was born in an old historic house upon the 
 campus of Harvard, This child during subsequent visits to 
 the home of Agassiz, became the playfellow ot the great in- 
 terpreter of nature, and Professor Le Conte used to tell with 
 much amusement of his discovery of the great Agassiz upon 
 his hands and knees, playing horse with the little girl. In 
 1857, with Agassiz, Dr. Le Conte made a study of the keys 
 and reefs of Florida. Late ia this same year, having received 
 the degree of B. S. at Harvard, he returned to Georgia and 
 was elected to the chair of natural science in Ogelthorpe 
 
238 The University of Calijornia Magazi^ie. 
 
 University. The following year he resigned to accept the 
 chair of geology and natural history in the University of 
 Georgia, in which institution his brother John was the pro- 
 fessor of natural philosophy. In 1855 the brothers both re- 
 signed their posts and accepted calls to South Carolina College, 
 at Columbia, Joseph to be the professor of geology and natural 
 history and John to be professor of physics. In 1862, the 
 college succombed to the trouble arising out of the Civil War. 
 
 In the Journal Professor I,e Conte said: — 
 
 "During the dark days of the war, I continued to write, 
 'The Relation of Sociology to Biology,' 'School, College and 
 University,' 'Nature and the Uses of Art.' This was certainly 
 my best. It was written in '63, when the whole South was 
 in an agony of conflict. The college was suspended. I must 
 do something in support of the cause which absorbed every 
 feeling. How could I turn my scientific knowledge to some 
 account ? Just then a large manufactorj' for the production of 
 chemicals for the use of the army was established in the 
 suburbs of Columbia. I was asked to be the chemist. I ac- 
 cepted and for about eighteen months I was engaged in the 
 manufacture on a large scale of many kinds of medicine: 
 alcohol, nitrate of silver, chloroform, sulphuric acid, etc. 
 The whole army drew from this laboratory with the ex- 
 ceptions of those supplies which ran the blockade. In 
 1864, without solicitation, I was appointed chemist of 
 the Nitre and Mining Bureau, with the rank and pay of 
 Major, My business was to test all nitrous earth brought 
 in from nitre caves or nitre beds. My laboratory was that 
 of the college. I visited all of the caves in South Carolina, 
 Tennessee and Alabama and the iron mines at Shelbyville. 
 I found here a Bessemer furnace, the only one in the Con- 
 federate States. I returned to Columbia in September and 
 made my report to St. John, Chief of the Bureau at Richmond. 
 Meanwhile Sherman was coming down from Chattanooga to 
 Atlanta, Johnson in front, retreating step by step. Sherman's 
 march through Georgia is a matter of history. The sea coast 
 
The Unpublished Works of Joseph Le Conte. 239 
 
 of the State was invaded and Savannah surrendered. My 
 second daughter, Mrs. R. M. Davis, was with her aunt within 
 the Federal lines upon my plantation. I felt it my duty to 
 haste to her rescue" * * * Which was accomplished 
 after many diflSculties under a flag of truce. They arrived in 
 Columbia February 7, 1865. * =}= * "I vvas ahead of 
 Sherman this time, but the army was rapidly approaching. I 
 could hear the guns booming upon the other side of the Con- 
 garee River. I now received orders from Colonel St. John to 
 pack up all the chemical apparatus, etc. I sent also all of my 
 valuables, manuscripts, my wife's jewelry, etc. * * ^ 
 
 "Feb. 18, 1864. It was not absolutely certain that Columbia 
 had fallen. We hoped not, or if so, we could not believe that 
 Sherman would deliberately burn it. We had been assured 
 in most positive manner by officers and men of Wheeler's com- 
 mand that there was no enemy in front of us. What was to 
 prevent us then from being cheerful? We were cheerful. 
 The roads, it is true, were still in an awful condition so that 
 we stopped every few hundred yards; but we continued to 
 creep on at the rate of about two miles an hour. But no use 
 in hurrying — no enemy ahead. As usual my brother John 
 and Captain Green were a little beyond in the buggy. In the 
 glory and brightness of the morning I preferred to walk. My 
 nephew John joined me sometimes and sometimes sat perched 
 high on the trunks and bedding-roll in the wagon. Johnny 
 had been sick and was not stong. The negro women and 
 children were all in the wagons." 
 
 These negroes had been brought up from the plantation to 
 work at Columbia in the Nitre Works and, knowing that their 
 freedom had come, chose to go with Professor I^e Conte. 
 
 "I was walking along rapidly and with a springing step, a 
 little ahead of the wagon. I was just passing a country cabin 
 about a hundred yards from the road. Suddenly I heard, 
 'Stop, Mister, stop!' I stopped and looking round, saw a 
 country woman rapidly approaching from the house. 'Where 
 are you going!' 'To Allston,' said I. 'To Allstou! Don't 
 
240 The University of California Magazi?ie. 
 
 you know the Yankees are crossing Broad River not more 
 than a mile from here? My father is expecting them at our 
 house every minute!' 'Impossible,' said I. 'We met Wheel- 
 ei's men not more than a mile back and they assured us there 
 were no Yankees ahead. They ought to know, for they were 
 sent here to watch them.' 'Wheeler's men!' she retorted, 
 'don't you see that smoke yonder, and there and there and 
 yonder!' She pointed rapidly in different directions. I looked, 
 and to my dismay I saw the rising columns of the smoke of 
 burning houses on every side, not more than half a mile dis- 
 tant. We were in the midst of the enemy whom we thought 
 so far away. Soon the popping of guns, with which I had 
 become so familiar, commenced. While I was talking with 
 the woman, John and Captain Green had gotten one-fourth of 
 a mile ahead." 
 
 Professor Le Conte finally succeeded in warning them and 
 they concealed themselves and their wagons. 
 
 "From our hiding place we saw several parties of Federals 
 approach the same house during the day. About 11 A. m. 
 a dense column of smoke, then the squealing of Confederate 
 pigs and the cackling of Rebel hens and the sound of human 
 voices in loud and angry tones, proclaimed in unmistakable 
 language that the hen house nearest us and only 100 yards 
 from where we were standing, was being raided." 
 
 They remained in hiding all the day. When evening ap- 
 proached the suspense became great. 
 
 "In the meantime the negro children were becoming clamo- 
 rous for food. They had had nothing since morning. It was 
 absolutely necessary to make a fire and cook. With many 
 misgivings and many directions for making it as small as 
 possible we consented. Alas! Alas! Those crying children, 
 low whimpering of the hungry mules as fodder was brought 
 to them and more than all that fire — that dreadful fire — would 
 surely betray us. As soon as possible it was extinguished 
 and we went to bed. Anxiety of mind kept us all from sleep 
 until late. Gradually the hum of the Yankee camp ceased 
 
The Unpublished Works of Joseph Le CoJite. 241 
 
 and all was still as death. I lay awake a long time gazing 
 into the tranquil heavens studded with innumerable stars: 
 and the huge oaks standing like giants with arms uplifted and 
 faces upturned to the sky. Slowly the deep tranquility and 
 holy calm of nature transfused itself into my soul and I sank 
 quietly to sleep." 
 
 They were discovered the next morning, but Joseph Le 
 Conte made his escape. His brother John and his nephew 
 were captured. 
 
 "I was comparatively safe but my extreme anxiety concern- 
 ing my brother and nephew rendered it impossible for me to 
 remain quiet. Three or four times in the course of the after- 
 noon, I crept down to the camp; but in every case I found 
 stray Yankees there and had to retreat. My anxiety increased 
 until it became insupportable. * * >k i crept down on my 
 hands and knees, closely observing at every step until I came 
 within ten steps of the camp fire. There was no one there but 
 one little negro boy about eight years old. As I rose and 
 walked toward the fire the little fellow started up to run. I 
 called to him to stop and he turned and recognized me." 
 
 The negroes greeted Professor Le Conte gladly, told of the 
 capture of his brother and nephew and five negro men. He 
 found that all of his manuscripts had been burned, with all of 
 the silver, jewelry and other articles of personal value. The 
 Confederate supplies had been destroyed also. 
 
 The negroes had saved something for their master to eat, 
 after which he sought and found the hiding place of Captain 
 Green. 
 
 The hardships endured during the days while Professor Le 
 Conte and Captain Green were making their way to Columbia, 
 are entirely forgotten in his humorous account of their narrow 
 escapes from capture, their ragged condition, and their eager- 
 ness to gain rest and food. Captain Green made a good sub- 
 ject for comedy, and the anecdotes told of him are very laugh- 
 able. Finally they reached their destination: 
 
 "We entered Columbia and went down Main street for 
 
242 The University of California Magazine. 
 
 a mile and a half. Not a house remaining, only the tall chim- 
 neys standing gaunt and spectral. The fire had swept five or 
 six blocks wide right through the heart of the city. We met 
 not a living soul. Alas, how the beautiful city, the pride of 
 the State, sat desolate and in ashes! — but I had no time to 
 moralize. Onward still, with increasing speed. Yonder stood 
 the brick walls of the college campus and the buildings that 
 had been saved from the fire to use as a hospital for both 
 Northern and Southern soldiers. My own ivy-covered home 
 was seen at last. I resigned the carpet-bag to my companion, 
 who was to take rooms in the hospital, ran up the stone steps 
 three at a leap. The door was locked. Rap, rap, rap. Deep 
 silence a moment, then the quick pattering of little feet along 
 the hall. Then in an instant open flew the door, and they all 
 hung upon my neck with mingled laughter and tears. 'Oh, 
 father, you are soaking wet!' 'You are in rags!' 'Your 
 pants are hanging in strings about your feet, and look what a 
 rent in your knees!' " 
 
 All of Professor Le Conte's clothing had been burned, but 
 the physician at the hospital secured a blue uniform for him, 
 which, according to the necessity of the time, was worn by 
 other Confederates. 
 
 Though dealing with the last days of the war, when defeat, 
 disaster, loss of friends and property made many Southerners 
 very bitter, the journal is utterly free from anything like 
 strong sectional feeling. The gentleness, sweetness, and hu- 
 mor of his character is more to be seen in this work than any 
 other book of Le Conte's. It is filled with illustrations that 
 are exceedingly comic in their nature, and that indicate the 
 power for hitting ofi" a humorous situation by pencil sketches 
 that show how genially the scientist lingered over the laugh- 
 able memory of awkward hardships, adventures, and the 
 tricks of accident. Captain Green, in his cloak improvised 
 from a blanket, makes an especially good subject for a comic 
 illustration. 
 
 During the reconstruction period, the South became almost 
 
The Unpublished Works of Joseph Le Coyite. 243 
 
 unendurable to Southerners of pride. The loss of all of their 
 property and the unfortunate condition of the people was diffi- 
 cult to bear, but the Legislature, composed almost entirely of 
 negroes, voted that negroes should enter the University with- 
 out any qualifications. At this time the brothers John and 
 Joseph discussed emigrating to Brazil, or considered throwing 
 in their fortunes with those of Maximillian of Mexico. The 
 organization of the University of California, however, brought 
 them to Oakland in 1868. The facts of Professor Le Conte's 
 relation to the University of California are very well known. 
 Of California he writes: 
 
 "I have said that my intellectual activity was powerfully 
 stimulated by coming to California. There are many causes 
 for this. First, the reaction from the long agony of the war. 
 Abstract thought was almost impossible during those anxious 
 times and in the presence of its serious results after the war. 
 Second, the splendid field for geological research opened here. 
 Third, contrary to my expectations, I found here an excep- 
 tionally active, energetic, and intelligent population. What 
 California wanted then (and still wants to some extent) was 
 a more thoroughly organized society." 
 
 Professor and Mrs. Agassiz came to visit the Le Contes in 
 the fall of 1872. Judge Tompkins met the great scientist on 
 this visit, and, through his admiration for the master, estab- 
 lished the Agassiz Chair of Oriental Languages. 
 
 Professor Le Conte made ten visits to the high Sierras 
 and the Yosemite Valley. The results of these trips have 
 been discussed in his scientific works and in pamphlets, besides 
 the autobiography. He says of his increasing enjoyment in 
 the scenery: 
 
 "There is one kind of enjoyment of beauty and grandeur 
 heightened by novelty, and another enjoyment of the same, 
 mellowed and hallowed by association. The one afi"ects more 
 the imagination, the other the heart. I had been so often in 
 the Yosemite that I now loved it for the association of pre- 
 vious delights." 
 
244 ^'^'^ University of Califorjiia Magazine. 
 
 Professor L,e Conte's most important discoveries in science 
 are, summed up in the following paragraph, from Professor 
 Lawson's article in Science : 
 
 "He announced the age and character of the Cascade Moun- 
 tains and their relation to the great Columbia lava flood; he 
 described 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 generalization on the 
 origin of mountains in general, and he became one of the 
 chief exponents of the 'contractional theory' of mountain 
 building. His studies on ore deposition at Steamboat Springs, 
 Nevada, and Sulphur Bank, California, led him to a discussion 
 of vein formation in general; and his classification of ore de- 
 posits has been widely recognized as resting on a sound basis, 
 and is not displaced in its essential features by the most recent 
 attempts in the same direction. He also made important con- 
 tributions to the subjects of seismology and coral growth in 
 its geological aspects." 
 
 lye Conte's important works are called "Sight," "The Ele- 
 ments of Geology," the "Compend of Geology," "Religion 
 and Science," and "Kvolution and Its Relation to Religious 
 Thought." 
 
 Professor Le Conte was made a member of the National 
 Academy of Sciences, Associate Fellow of the American 
 Academy of Arts and Sciences, corresponding member of the 
 New York Academy of Sciences, member of the American 
 Philosophical Society, Fellow of the American Association 
 for the Advancement of Science and past president of the 
 same, Fellow of the Geological Society of America and past 
 president of the same, life member of the Academy of Sci- 
 ences, member of the Boston Society of Natural History, 
 honorary member of the Brooklyn Ethical Association, mem- 
 ber of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, also of the Davenport 
 Academy of Sciences, member of the American Institute of 
 Mining Engineers, member of the National Geographical So- 
 
The Unpublished Works of Joseph Le Conte. 245 
 
 cieiy, member of the International Geological Congress atid 
 once vice-president of the same, member of the California 
 State Medical Society, honorary member of the South Caro- 
 lina State Medical Society. He was also associated with the 
 editorship of the Jourjial op Geology and Science. 
 
 Professor Le Conte's articles and books have been trans- 
 lated into other languages, and letters and tributes came to 
 hira from all parts of the world. Those expressions of love 
 and veneration that he most appreciated came, however, from 
 his classes. His students were his children, his comrades, 
 and his friends. As one of the fathers of the University, his 
 family is the largest in the State, numbering many hundreds, 
 and these boys and girls speak his name reverently in their 
 homes, where the influence of his cheerful, simple, noble 
 character has made itself felt. He was a great scientist, but 
 a greater man. In his ideal home life and in all of his rela- 
 tions with society he was the courtly gentleman and the 
 charming companion. His book on "Evolution and Its Re- 
 lation to Religious Thought" has done more toward settling 
 the doubts and calming the troubled souls of the young than 
 many volumes of sermons preached by a less inspired man. 
 
 Since '96, the twenty-sixth of February has been celebrated 
 by the students of the University' in a way that inadequately 
 expressed their veneration for the great teacher. His long 
 desk was completely covered with flowers, there was always 
 some appropriate gift made to him, and the speech of present- 
 ation by a well-known student was always received in a gra- 
 cious manner by Professor Le Coute. On his last birthday he 
 was in Georgia, and he thought the day would pass unno- 
 ticed by the students, but as he was sitting down to his birth- 
 day dinner with his wife, his children, his grandchildren, and 
 his great-grandchildren, in his native State, a telegram came 
 from the students of the University of his adopted vState, con- 
 gratulating him upon the rich, complete years of his H.^e. 
 Professor Le Conte was intensely gratified at the arrival of the 
 telegram, but his surprise was great, on reaching Berkeley, to 
 
246 The U?iiversity of California Magazine. 
 
 jBnd that the usual gift had been made, in spite of his absence, 
 and a beautiful picture had been sent to his home with the 
 warm greetings of the students. His autobiography closes 
 with an account of this happy home-coming, the final words 
 being : 
 
 "Such evidences of affection from the students, the faculty, 
 the regents, and the people of California, have endeared the 
 University and the people to me. There is no place like 
 California." 
 
A Tribute. 247 
 
 A TRIBUTE. 
 
 BY DARWIN ROOT, '02. 
 
 The dear old man has gone and now no more 
 The mountains whisper in his listening ear 
 The secrets of their inner life. They rear 
 Their white-crowned heads and scan in vain the shore 
 Of Time where he has gleaned in years before 
 The mysteries of the changing sands, and clear 
 And open laid them as a faithful seer 
 On Truth's broad altar. Now the voice of yore 
 Is stilled, the face is gone, but ne'er to die 
 A memory lives; his voice and face the same 
 As in the bygone days may calm our strife, 
 And e'en in memory may his beaming eye 
 E'er dissipate each sordid selfish aim 
 And light us to the mountain tops of Life. 
 
The University of Lalifornia 
 
 M 
 
 agazme 
 
 (OfBcial Organ of the Alumni Association and of the Council of the 
 Associated Alumni.) 
 
 PUBLISHED MONTHLY DURING THE COLLEGE YEAR 
 
 Counsellors — Professors Wm. Carey Jones and Thomas R. Bacon. 
 
 £'rflV0f-/«-C/i7«/— WiNFIELD DORN, '02. 
 
 Associate Edilors—yiiss Katherine F. Smith, '02; Miss Lucile Graves, '03; 
 ROBT. W. Ritchie, '02; Benj. W. Reed, '02; John A. Brev.'er, '03; Roger C. Chick- 
 ering, '04; J. Raymond Carter, '02 (Staff Artist). 
 
 Alumni Coniributors—PROFE&SOK Wm. E. Ritter President of the Associated 
 Alumni; Charles S. Greene, President of the Alumni Association; Miss Emma 
 Hefty, Secretary of the Associated Alumni ; James Sutton, Secretary of the 
 Alumni Association. 
 
 Business Manager — Bryan Bell, '03; 
 
 [The subscription price of the magazine is $1.50 per year, payable in advance. 
 Failure of the managers to receive a notice from subscribers to discontinue sending 
 the publication will be taken as an iutimation that the subscription is to be contin- 
 ued. Advertising rates will be sent on application to the manager, Berkeley, Cal.] 
 
 The Magazine is on sale at the Cooperative Store, University; Needham Brothers,' 
 Berkeley; Elder & Shepard, 23S Post St., San Francisco. 
 
 Patrons will please note the new San Francisco address. 
 
 Student subscribers will receive their copies at the Cooperative Store until further 
 notice. 
 
 WE staud silent before the swish of the scythe of Time. A 
 life has gone out of our midst for which nothing can 
 compensate. How much the influence, the personality, the 
 sacrifice, of Joseph Le Conte has contributed to the University 
 can never be measured by material or intellectual standards. 
 It reaches as deep as feeling and as high as thought. 
 
 lyife hurries on, — but the influence of a great personality is 
 for eternity. Unconsciously we are feeling the permeating in- 
 fluence of the life of Jcseph Le Conte,— and this spirit will 
 
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