Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/688

652 number of his forces fell a prey to a pestilence ; but after receiving re-enforcements by sea from the other generals, who had so far been successful, he defeated Toussaint. and on 9 May the latter signed a treaty, acknowledging the dominion of France over the whole island. In spite of the treaty, Le- clerc ordered the arrest of Toussaint a few days later, and sent him to Prance as a prisoner. Then, assuming the rank of governor-general, he began to carry out his plan of re-enslaving the negroes. A rising took place in the interior, and the whole island was soon ablaze with the fires of the insur- rectionists. The negroes now committed horrible acts of vengeance, and the French retaliated with revolting cruelties. The latter were soon worn out and decimated by yellow fever and want of pro- visions. The blacks gained ground, and Leclerc retired to the island of Tortugas. where he died of yellow fever. See Thomas Madion's " Histoire d'Haiti " (Port au Prince, 1847) ; Pamphile La- croix's " Memoires pour servir a l'histoire de la revolution de. Saint Domingue" (Paris, 1819); and Ardouin's " Etudes sur l'histoire d'Haiti " (1833).

LECLERQ, Chretien, French missionary, b. in Artois, France, about 1630; d. in Lens, France, about 1695. He was a member of the Recollet order of Franciscans, and in 1655 was sent as a missionary to Canada. Landing on the coast of the island of Gaspe, he learned the language of the Indians and labored among them for six years, when he was sent to France to obtain permission to found a house of Recollets in Montreal. He was successful, and returned to his mission in 1662. After passing several years in Canada and meeting with little success in his work, he re- turned to France, and was made guardian of the convent of Lens. He wrote " Nouvelle relation de la Gaspesie " (Paris, 1691) ; " Etablissement de la foi dans la nouvelle France " (2 vols., Paris, 1691 ; English translation, by John G. Shea, New York, 1881). Charlevoix complains that Leclerq seldom speaks of any religious affairs except those in which his order took part, and that he treats of the history of the colony only as far as Count Frontenac was connected with it, and that there is reason to believe that Frontenac had some part in composing the work. Leclerq claims for the Recollets the honor of being the first to compile a dictionary of the languages of the Indians of Canada, and insists on the superiority of his order, as Indian missionaries, to the Jesuits.

LE CONTE, Lewis, naturalist, b. near Shrewsbury, N. J., 4 Aug., 1782 ; d. in Liberty county, Ga., 9 Jan., 1838. He was descended from a French Huguenot family that settled, about the close of the 17th century, in New Roehelle, N. Y., and was graduated at Columbia in 1799, after which he studied medicine with Dr. David Hosack. Mr. Le Conte was soon afterward called to the charge of the family estates of Woodmanston, in Georgia, and gave up his profession, but cultivated several branches of the natural and physical sciences. He established a botanical garden on his plantation, which was especially rich in bulbous plants from the Cape of Good Hope, and a laboratory in which he tested the discoveries of the chemists of the day. In consequence of an aversion to appearing in print, he published nothing, but gave the fruits of his investigations to his scientific friends. The mono- graphs of his brother, John Eatton Le Conte, were enriched by his observations. Stephen Elliott, of South Carolina, and other contemporary botanists, acknowledged their obligations to him. He also devoted much attention to mathematical subjects, and among others to that of " magic squares." His death resulted from poison that was taken into his system while he was dressing a wound for a inein- ber of his family. — His brother, John Eatton, naturalist, b. near Shrewsbury, N. J., 22 Feb., 1784: d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 21 Nov., 1860, entered the corps of topographical engineers of the U. S. army in 1818, and remained in the service till 18:! 1, at- taining, in 1828, the brevet rank of major for ten years' faithful service. He had been associated with his elder brother in the study of botany in New York city. Maj. Le Conte published special studies on utricularia, graticla, ruellia, tillandsia, viola, and pancratium ; also on native grape-vines, tobacco, and the pecan-nut. He also wrote several papers on mammals, reptiles, batrachians, and Crustacea, mostly of a systematic character, and collected a vast amount of original material for the natural history of American insects, as may be seen by a single instalment that was published in Paris in conjunction with Boisduval upon " North American Butterflies." His specialty was coleop- tera. particularly during the latter part of his career, though he published only four papers upon them, and chiefly upon the histerida?. He not only gathered a considerable collection, but left an extensive series of water-color illustrations of American insects and plants that he made with his own hands. Maj. Le Conte was a member of the New York lyceum of natural history, and vice- president of the Philadelphia academy of natural sciences, to whose proceedings he contributed scientific papers. — Lewis's son, John, physicist, b. in Liberty county, Ga., 4 Dec, 1818, was graduated at Franklin college, of the University of Georgia, in 1838, and at the College of physicians and surgeons, New York, in 1841. He settled in Savannah, Ga., in 1842, and there began the practice of his profes- sion, but in 1846 was called to the chair of natural philosophy and chemistry in Franklin college, which he held until 1855. He lectured on chemistry at the College of physicians and surgeons at New York, in 1855-'6, and in 1856 became professor of natural and mechanical philosophy in South Carolina col- lege, at Columbia. In 1869 he was appointed professor of physics and industrial mechanics in the University of California, and, after holding the office of president of the university, in addition to his chair, during 1876-'81, retired in the latter year to the chair of physics, which he still (1887) retains. His scientific work extends over nearly fifty years, and at first was in the line of medical investigation, but subsequently became confined almost exclusively to physical science. It includes more than fifty communications that have appeared in scientific journals both in the United States and in England, also in the " Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science," of which organization he was general secretary in 1857. During the same year he delivered a course of lectures on the " Physics of Meteorology" at the Smithsonian institution in Washington, D. C. and in 1867 one of four lectures on the " Stellar Universe " at the Peabody institute in Baltimore, Md. Prof. Le Conte received the degree of LL. D. from the University of Georgia in 1879. Since 1878 he has been a member of the National academy of science. A treatise on " General Physics," which had been nearly completed by him, was destroyed by fire in the burning of Columbia. S. C, in 1865. — Another son of Lewis. Joseph, geologist, b. in Liberty county, Ga., 26 Feb., 1823, was graduated at Franklin college, of the University of Georgia, in 1841, obtained his medical degree at the College of physicians and surgeons, New York, in 1845, and, settling in