WILLIAM BARTON ROGERS, 433 



of Virginia ; but the new fomily relations which had been established 

 led in 1853 to the transfer of his residence to Boston, where a quite 

 different, but even a more important, sphere of usefulness surrounded 

 him. His wide scientific reputation, as well as his family counectiou, 

 assured him a warm welcome in the most cultivated cii'cles of Boston 

 societ}', where his strength of character, his power of imparting knowl- 

 edge, and his genial manners, soon commanded universal respect and 

 admiration. He at once took an active part in the various scientific 

 hiterests of the city. From 1845 he had been a Fellow of this 

 Academy ; and after taking up his residence among us he was a fre- 

 quent attendant on our meetings, often took part in our proceedings, 

 became a member of our Council, and from 1863 to 18G9 acted as our 

 Corresponding Secretary. He took a similar interest in the Boston 

 Society of Natural History. He was a member, and for many years 

 the President, of the Thursday Evening Scientific Club, to which he 

 imparted new life and vigor, and which was rendered by him an im- 

 portant field of infiuence. The members who were associated with 

 him in that club will never forget those masterly expositions of recent 

 advances in physical science ; and will remember that, while he made 

 clear their technical importance to the wealthy business men around 

 him, he never failed to impress his auditors with the worth and dignity 

 of scientific culture. 



During the earlier years of his residence in Boston, Pi-ofessor Rogers 

 occupied himself with a number of scientific problems, chiefly physical. 

 He studied the variations of ozone (or of what was then regarded as 

 ozone) in the atmosphere at the time when this subject was exciting 

 great attention. He was greatly interested in the improvements of 

 the Ruhmkorff Coil made by Mr. E. S. Ritchie ; and in this connec- 

 tion published a paper on the " Actinism of the Electric Discharge in 

 Vacuum Tubes." A study of the phenomena of binocular vision led 

 to a paper entitled " Experiments disproving by the Binocular Com- 

 bination of Visual Spectra Brewster's Theory of Successive Combina- 

 tions of Corresponding Points." A paper discussing the phenomena of 

 smoke rings and rotating rings in li(iuids appeared in the American 

 Journal of Science for 1858, with the description of a very simple but 

 effective apparatus by which the phenomena would be readily re- 

 produced. In this paper Professor Rogers anticipated some of the 

 later results of Ilelraboltz and Sir William Thomson. In the same 

 year an ingenious illustration of the properties of sonorous flames was 

 exhibited to the Thursday Evening Club above mentioned, in which 

 Professor Rogers anticipated Count Schafgottsch in the invention of a 

 VOL. XVIII. (n. s. X.) 28 



