1896.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. " 229 



have never enjoyed until this season, and, unless one can give his 

 whole time to the work of opening hundreds of females with great 

 care, and have the means and time to preserve the material ob- 

 tained, it is but very little use to bother with the subject. I have 

 eviscerated about five hundred rats, mice, field-mice, moles, bats and 

 musk-rats. I have a fine lot of embryos of all stages nicely pre- 

 served. Besides this I have obtained two hundred and fifty spar- 

 row's eggs in all stages of incubation, which I have also put in good 

 condition." 



After an experience of nine years, terminating only in his death, 

 it can be said of him that all the expectations raised at the time of 

 his appointment were more than realized. He proved himself to be 

 a diligent teacher and an esteemed colleague. As matters appear to 

 be arranged for men of Ryder's attainments, a university position is 

 the best available. Speaking for the personal side of his career, it 

 may be said of him, as I am sure he might have said for himself, 

 that to receive the respectful admiration and affection of pupils and 

 to influence for good the mental development of youth, is for any 

 man a sufficient reward. A former pupil, Mr. H. F. Moore, says of 

 him : " What he may have lacked in some of the usual attributes 

 of a successful teacher was more than compensated for by his 

 keen sympathy, his painstaking care and his skill with crayon and 

 pencil. If he had found a point of interest in his work, he usually 

 invited us to enter, and would unfold to us his hopes and aspira- 

 tions with the enthusiasm and simplicity of youth." Yet, after all 

 is said, one must agree with his friend, Mr. W. V. McKean, that 

 " Ryder was essentially the kind of investigator that it would have 

 been a public benefit to have established in an amply endowed uni- 

 versity chair, so that he might be entirely free to pursue his re- 

 searches unhindered by any mere task work." 



Dr. Ryder enjoyed perfect health until 1882, when he contracted 

 malaria while engaged in some researches in connection with his 

 work on the Fish Commission, at Ridge, Maryland. He sufl^ered 

 from a recurrence in 1888, while residing in Philadelphia. About 

 this time dyspepsia announced itself. He suffered greatly and be- 

 came much emaciated. In the summer of 1890 he visited Europe, 

 but returned scarcely at all improved. He had an attack of the pre- 

 vailing influenza in 1894, and from this time more serious and ob- 

 scure impairment of the general health ensued. He died March 

 26, 1895, after an acute illness of a few days, aged forty-three 

 years. 



