Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/710

NAME LE CONTE 688 LEE who settled about 1698 at New Rochelle in the state of New York. His father, Louis, had left the North to take up his permanent abode upon a family estate in Woodmanston, Georgia, and it was here Joseph was born. From the University of Georgia he received the degrees A. B. 1841 ; A. M., 1845 ; from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, M. D., 1845; from Lawrence Scientific School (Harvard), B. S., 1851; from Prince- ton, LL. D., 1896. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and various other societies. In Cambridge he studied under Louis Agassiz (q. v.), and in New York under John Torrey (q. v.) and Louis A. Sayre (q. v.). He was elected to the chairs of geology and natural history. University of Georgia, 1852; to the chairs of geology and chemistry. South Carolina College, 1856; to that of chemistrj- in the medical department of the same college, 1857; and those of geology and zoology, Uni- versity of California, in 1869 — positions he continued to hold until his death. During the Civil War he was chemist of the Confeder- ate laboratory for the manufacture of medi- cines, 1862-3, and chemist of the Nitre and Mining Bureau, with the rank of major, 1863, until the end of the war. Dr. LeConte practised as a physician only a few years after graduating M. D., and before taking up his studies under Agassiz. Never- theless, he continued to be interested in medi- cal subjects, publishing a number of papers on such topics; and a book, "Sight," which is an exposition of the principles of monocular and binocular vision, 1880, and was well thought of by ophthalmologists. Besides these, he was the author of various books and articles, most of which lie in the domain of natural science. His book, "Religion and Science," that appeared m 1874, the result of a series of Sunday lectures on the truths revealed in nature and scripture, excited a great deal of interest at the time. In his own specialty of geology his best work lay along the line of mountain making and structure. Up to the time of his death he was head of the departments of geology and biology in the University of California, but elected to those of geology and zoology, for in 1869 the term "Biology" had not yet entered scientific no- menclature. In 1847 he married Caroline Elizabeth Nis- bet, daughter of A. M. Nisbet, of Milledge- ville, Georgia, and had five children, four of whom survived him, Emma Florence, Sarah Elizabeth, Caroline Eatton and Joseph Nisbet. Dr. LeConte died while on a camping trip in the Yosemite Valley, July 6, 1901. It is a peculiar fact that the LeConte family were scientific men from father to son for two hundred years. Dt. Pierre LeConte (born m 1704) was in his day a physician of some note, and since his time there has not been one gen- eration of his family in the male line which has not been represented by scientists and by one or more physicians. This striking example of heredity was noted by Samuel Scudder m his biographical sketch of the LeConte family, read before the National Academy of Science in 1884. His many scientific publications were mostly confined to geology and physiology. Among those connected with medical science are : "ArtiScial Production of Sex," Nashville Journal of Medicine and Surgery, 1866-67; A series of articles on "Binocular Vision," American Journal of Science, 1868-87; "Gly- cogenic Function of the Liver," American Journal of Science, 1878-89; "Genesis of Sex," Popular Science Monthly, 1879; "Effect of Mixture of Races on Human Progress," Berkeley Quarterly, 1880; "Significance of Sex in Evolution," Science, 1880; Pacific Med- ical Journal, 1880; "Evolution; Its Nature, Its Evidences, and Its Relation to Religious Thought," 1888. Charles E. LeConte. The Autobiography of Joseph LeConte, 1903. Portrait. Jour. Amer. Med. Asso., Chicago, 1901, vol. xxxvii. Trans. Med. Asso., Georgia. Atlanta, 1902. W. L. Jones. Lee, Arthur (1740-1792) Arthur Lee was born in the County of West- moreland, Virginia, on December 20, 1740. He was the sixth son of Thomas Lee of Stratford, the first native Virginian to be appointed gov- ernor of the colony. The distinction attained by each of his six sons caused Washington to write in 1717: "I know of no county that can produce a family all distinguished as clever men, as our Lees." Arthur Lee was educated and took his M. D. at Edinburgh University. He gave special at- tention to botany and to materia medica; and his treatise in Latin on the botanical character and medicinal uses of Peruvian bark obtained a prize and was published by the university. On returning to Virginia he settled in Wil- liamsburg, and practised with success for sev- eral years. Not Fiking his profession, how- ever, he gave it up, went to London and began to study law in the Temple, with a view to a political career. While there, he rendered most important service to his country in sending to America