Le Conte, Joseph

Joseph (1823-1901), an American geologist. He was born in Liberty County, Georgia. His father, Lewis Le Conte, was a physician and a naturalist, the owner of a private botanical garden of note. Joseph was graduated at Franklin College, Georgia, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. He took up the practice of medicine at Macon, Georgia, but drifted into the companionship of Agassiz and accompanied that eminent naturalist to Florida in 1850. Le Conte held chairs of natural science and geology in Oglethorpe University, Franklin College, and the University of South Carolina. In 1869 he accepted the chair of geology in the University of California, a position which he honored. He died in the valley of the Yosemite. Le Conte was a product of the field, rather than of the laboratory. He wrote pleasingly. His Elements of Geology, published in 1878, went far to popularize geology in college classes. A smaller Compend of Geology performed a similar service in the high school and academy. Other writings were Evolution: Its Nature and Its Evidence, and Religion and Science. He was an editor of the Journal of Geology and of Science, to which he contributed valuable papers relating to mountain formations as manifested in the Sierra Nevadas.