456 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1895. 



He served as a member of the Publication Committee from 1851 to 

 1854, and in September of the earlier year, he was appointed to pre- 

 pare a new and extended notice of the Academy. That he lost no 

 time in the performance of the work assigned to him is evident, for 

 the notice was read to the meeting of February 10, 1852, a vote of 

 thanks being then adopted and communicated to the author through 

 a committee consisting of Messrs, Vaux, Bridges and Pearsall. 

 The paper was published under the title "A Notice of the Origin, 

 Progress, and Present Condition of the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of Philadelphia." A second edition was issued in 1860. 



He served as Fleet Surgeon of the Pacific Squadron from 1854 to 

 1857. 



In January, 1858, a committee of Academicians was appointed to 

 confer with one from the Biological Society with a view to a union 

 of the two bodies. The report was evidently written by Dr. Rusch- 

 enberger. The question of Sections is carefully considered in view 

 of the character of the Academy's work, which up to that time, had 

 been almost entirely confined to the study of objective natural history, 

 the recording of specific differences and resemblances of form, classi- 

 fication, and geographical distribution, while the province of the 

 Biological Society was declared to be the discovery of the laws of 

 organic life, the forces which bring together the primary organic 

 cells and the results of their combination. The necessity of providing 

 for organized special work was insisted on, and the alteration of the 

 by-laws to permit of the erection of classes or departments was 

 recommended. It was argued that the existing divisions of objective 

 natural history would not lie curtailed or interfered with, the interest 

 of the meetings of the Academy would be enhanced and the necessity 

 for the organization of special societies would be avoided. 



Dr. Ruschenberger lived long enough to be cognizant of the vast 

 advance of biological investigation from those days of cell-relations 

 to the present era of germinal selection, cytodes and microplasms. 

 He had occasion, it is believed, to acknowledge that the hopes of the 

 committee of conference were not well founded and that the existence 

 of Sections in the Academy, while detracting from the interest of the 

 general meetings, has not prevented the organization of special 

 societies which, it appears, are necessary to secure the sympathetic 

 association desired by those interested in distinct lines of investigation. 



From August 1860 to July 1861 he was serving also as Fleet 



