1885.] *-*-& [Ruschenberger. 



The middle name is a loving memorial record of his father's 

 respect and friendship for his medical preceptor, Dr. Benjamin 

 Smith Barton. 



William B. Rogers obtained his early education in Baltimore 

 and Williamsburg, Va., at the College of William and Mary, of 

 which he was an alumnus 1820-21. 



For a time, while a youth, he was employed in Baltimore by a 

 dealer in crockeryware, and acquired such facility in wrapping 

 packages that he subsequently reckoned it among his accomplish- 

 ments. 



About 1821, in conjunction with his brother Henry, he set up 

 a school in the suburbs of Baltimore. How long, or with what 

 degree of success they taught, has not been ascertained. 



In 1827, then in his twenty-third year, he delivered a course 

 of lectures on natural science before the Mechanics Institute. 



In 1828 he was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy 

 and Mathematics in the College of William and Mary, to fill a 

 vacancy caused by the death of his father. 



His attention was directed to natural science, and especially 

 to geology. In 1830 he contributed to the Messenger of Useful 

 Knowledge, edited by his brother Henry, then a professor in 

 Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., articles on Dew. He was 

 elected a correspondent of the Academy of Natural Sciences of 

 Philadelphia in 1833. In June, 1834, and May, 1835, he pub- 

 lished in the Farmers' Register three papers on the Green Sand 

 of Virginia.* 



About this period he was allowed to advocate before the 

 Legislature the institution of a geological survey of the State 

 of Virginia. March 6, 1835, an act was passed directing "the 

 Board of Public Works to appoint a suitable person to make a 

 geological reconnoissance of the State," provided his compensa- 

 tion shall not exceed $1500. 



To him 1835 was an eventful year. He was appointed Pro- 

 fessor of Natural Philosophy and Geology in the University of 

 Virginia ; chosen a member of the American Philosophical Society 

 July 17, and Director of the Geological Survey of Virginia. 



* Contained in a Reprint of the Annual Reports and other papers on the Geol- 

 ogy of the Virginias. By the late William Banon Rogers, LL.D., &c, Director 

 of the Geological Survey of Virginia from 1835 to 18U, President of the National 

 Academy of Sciences. 12mo, pp. 832. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1884. 



