LEIDY

leidy, joseph (1823-1891), american naturalist and palaeontologist, was born in philadelphia on the 9th of september 1823. he studied mineralogy and botany without an instructor, and graduated in medicine at the university of pennsylvania in 1844. continuing his work in anatomy and physiology, he visited europe in 1848, but both before and after this period of foreign study lectured and taught in american medical colleges. in 1853 he was appointed professor of anatomy in the university of pennsylvania, paying special attention to comparative anatomy. in 1884 he promoted the establishment in the same institution of the department of biology, of which he became director, and meanwhile taught natural history in swarthmore college, near philadelphia. his papers on biology and palaeontology were very numerous, covering both fauna and flora, and ranging from microscopic forms of animal life to the higher vertebrates. he wrote also occasional papers on minerals. he was an active member of the boston society of natural history and of the american philosophical society; and was the recipient of various american and foreign degrees and honours. his _cretaceous reptiles of the united states_ (1865) and _contributions to the extinct vertebrate fauna of the western territories_ (1873) were the most important of his larger works; the best known and most widely circulated was an _elementary treatise on human anatomy_ (1860, afterwards revised in new editions). he died in philadelphia on the 30th of april 1891. see memoir and portrait in _amer. geologist_, vol. ix. (jan. 1892) and bibliography in vol. viii. (nov. 1891) and memoir by h. c. chapman in _proc. acad. nat. sc._ (philadelphia, 1891), p. 342. leif ericsson [leifr eiriksson] (fl. 999-1000), scandinavian explorer, of icelandic family, the first known european discoverer of "vinland," "vineland" or "wineland, the good," in north america. he was a son of eric the red (eirikr hinn raudi thorvaldsson), the founder of the earliest scandinavian settlements--from iceland--in greenland (985). in 999 he went from greenland to the court of king olaf tryggvason in norway, stopping in the hebrides on the way. on his departure from norway in 1000, the king commissioned him to proclaim christianity in greenland. as on his outward voyage, leif was again driven far out of his course by contrary weather--this time to lands (in america) "of which he had previously had no knowledge," where "self-sown" wheat grew, and vines, and "mosur" (maple?) wood. leif took specimens of all these, and sailing away came home safely to his father's home in brattahlid on ericsfiord in greenland. on his voyage from this vineland to greenland, leif rescued some shipwrecked men, and from this, and his discoveries, gained his name of "the lucky" (_hinn heppni_). on the subsequent expedition of thorfinn karlsefni for the further exploration and settlement of the far western vine-country, it is recorded that certain gaels, incredibly fleet of foot, who had been given to leif by olaf tryggvason, and whom leif had offered to thorfinn, were put on shore to scout. such is the account of the _saga of eric the red_, supported by a number of briefer references in early icelandic and other literature. the less trustworthy history of the _flatey book_ makes biarni heriulfsson in 985 discover helluland (labrador?) as well as other western lands which he does not explore, not even permitting his men to land; while leif ericsson follows up biarni's discoveries, begins the exploration of helluland, markland and vinland, and realizes some of the charms of the last named, where he winters. but this secondary authority (the _flatey book_ narrative), which till lately formed the basis of all general knowledge as to vinland, abounds in contradictions and difficulties from which _eric the red saga_ is comparatively free. thus (in _flatey_) the grapes of vinland are found in winter and gathered in spring; the man who first finds them, leif's foster-father tyrker the german, gets drunk from eating the fruit; and the vines themselves are spoken of as big trees affording timber. looking at the record in _eric the red saga_, it would seem probable that leif's vinland answers to some part of southern nova scotia. see vinland. (as to helluland and markland see thorfinn karlsefni.) the mss. of _eric the red's saga_ are nos. 544 and 557 of the arne-magnaean collection in copenhagen; the ms. of the _flatey book_, so called because it was long the property of a family living on flat island in broad firth (flatey in breiðafjord [b-eidafj-d]), on the north-west coast of iceland, was presented in 1662 to the royal library of denmark, of which it is still one of the chief treasures. these leading narratives are supplemented by adam of bremen, _gesta hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum_, chap. 38 (247 lappenberg) of book iv. (often separately entitled _descriptio insularum aquilonis_; adam's is the earliest extant reference to vinland, c. 1070): we have also notices of vinland in the _libellus islandorum_ of ari frodi (c. 1120), the oldest icelandic historian; in the _kristni saga_ (repeated in snorri sturlason's _heimskringla_); in _eyrbyggia saga_ (c. 1250); in _gretti saga_ (c. 1290); and in an icelandic chorography of the 14th century, or earlier, partly derived from the famous traveller abbot nicolas of thing-eyrar ([+]1159). see gustav storm, "studies on the vineland voyages," in the _memoires de la societe royale des antiquaires du nord_ (copenhagen, 1888); and _eiriks saga raudha_ (copenhagen, 1891); a. m. reeves, _finding of wineland the good: the history of the icelandic discovery of america_ (london, 1890); in this work the original authorities are given in full, with photographic facsimiles, english translations and adequate commentary; rafn's _antiquitates americanae_ (copenhagen, 1837) contains all the sources, but the editor's personal views have in many cases failed to satisfy criticism; the _flatey_ text is printed also by vigfusson and unger in _flateyjar-bok_, vol. i. (christiania, 1860). there are also translations of _flatey_ and _red eric saga_ in beamish, _discovery of north america, by the northmen_ (lond., 1841); e. f. slafter, _voyages of the northmen_ (boston, 1877); b. f. de costa, _pre-columbian discovery of america by the northmen_ (albany, 1901); and _original narratives of early american history; the northmen, columbus and cabot_, pp. 1-66 (new york, 1906). see also c. raymond beazley, _dawn of modern geography_ ii. 48-83 (london, 1901); josef fischer, _die entdeckungen der normannen in amerika_ (freiburg i. b., 1902); john fiske, _discovery of america_, vol. i.; juul dieserud, "norse discoveries in america," in the _bulletin of the american geographical society_ (february, 1901); g. vigfusson, _origines islandicae_ (1905), which strangely expresses a preference for the _flatey book_ "account of the first sighting of the american continent" by the norsemen. (c. r. b.)