SKETCH OF PROF. WILLIAM B. ROGERS. 609 



He married, in 1849, a daughter of Hon. James Savage, of Bos- 

 ton, President of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and author 

 of the " Genealogical Dictionary," and in 1873 removed to that city, 

 where he has since resided. Here, although he early identified himself 

 with the educational and public interests of the community, he did 

 not relax his devotion to scientific labors, which were now, however, 

 more largely directed to the department of experimental physics. 

 Among his contributions to physics at this period may be mentioned 

 a series of papers " On Binocular Vision, giving an Elaborate Analy- 

 sis of the Phenomena, with some Important Additions to the Research- 

 es on this Subject of Wheatstone and Brewster ; " " Experiments on 

 Sonorous Flames," in which he described an apparatus for making 

 visible the vibrations by rotating the flame ; and " On the Forma- 

 tion of Rings of Air and Liquids " all of which may be found in 

 Silliman's Journal (185o-'60). 



He also published, in the New Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, 

 the results of continued observations on atmospheric ozone, and on 

 the auroras of August and September, 1859 and 1860. As a member 

 of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the Boston 

 Society of Natural History, of the former of which he was for many 

 years the corresponding secretary, Prof. Rogers took an active part in 

 the discussions of the various scientific questions then rising into im- 

 portance, and made contributions from time to time to their published 

 proceedings. Among the communications to the American Academy 

 we may note papers " On the Protozoic Age of Certain Rocks in 

 Eastern Massachusetts ; " " On the Actinism of the Electric Discharge 

 in Vacuum Tubes," of which he exhibited numerous photographs, in 

 connection with his paper on the improvements, by Mr. E. S. Ritchie, 

 of the Ruhmkorff apparatus ; and " Experiments disproving, by the 

 Binocular Combination of Visual Spectra, Brewster's Theory of Suc- 

 cessive Combination of Corresponding Points." 



In the " Transactions of the Boston Society of Natural History " 

 appeared, among other articles by Prof. Rogers, communications " On 

 the Grow r th of Stalactites ; " " Geological Relations of the New Red 

 Sandstone of the Middle States to the Coal-Rocks of Eastern Virginia 

 and North Carolina ; " " On the Origin and Accumulation of the 

 Protocarbonate of Iron in Coal-Measures ; " " On the Natural Coke 

 and Associated Igneous Rocks of Eastern Virginia ; " and " On Peb- 

 bles in the Newport Conglomerate." 



At the annual meetings of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, Prof. Rogers has been a frequent contributor, 

 as w r ell in the discussions of scientific questions as in the communi- 

 cation of original papers, which, however, in most cases, appear only 

 by title in their " Transactions," or are to be found in other publica- 

 tions before mentioned. 



In 1853 he removed to Boston, where he has since resided. At 

 vol. ix. 39 



