117 



1885.] xxi [Ruschenberger. 



the emphasis of voice and finger pointing out the distinguishing 

 phenomena, and the fervor of spontaneous utterance. The im- 

 pression I have of this exposition as delivered is, that next to 

 the Phi Beta Kappa oration of Wendell Phillips at Harvard, it 

 is the most lucid and elegant effort of oral statement to which I 

 ever listened. It may be true that eloquence is but a secondary 

 qualitj' in the philosopher ; but in respect to the matter of this 

 memoir and the general researches and deductions of the brothers 

 Rogers here named, in their peculiar field of exploration, it may 

 be safely asserted that they have made the most original and 

 brilliant generalizations recorded in the annals of American 

 geology, and have thrown light on the structure of mountain 

 chains generally, which entitles them to a place by the side of the 

 great expositor of this subject, Eli de Beaumont, of France." 



" The wave theory of mountain chains was the first important 

 contribution to the dynamical and structural geology which had 

 been brought forward in this country. It excited at the time 

 great interest, as well from the novelty of the views as from the 

 eloquence with which they were set forth ; and to-day it is still 

 regarded as one of the most important advances in orographic 

 geology."* 



William B. Rogers was elected an honorary member of the 

 Boston Society of Natural History, June 1, 1842, and a fellow of 

 the Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1845, of which he was Cor- 

 responding Secretary from 1863 till 1869. 



In 1844-45 he was Chairman of the Faculty of the University 

 of Tirginia.f 



June 20, 1840, he married Miss Emma, daughter of the Hon. 

 James Savage, of Boston, and with his bride sailed the same 

 day. They visited England and Scotland, passed some days in 

 Paris, a few weeks in Switzerland, and returned in October, 

 when he resumed his vocation at the University of Virginia. 

 Mrs. Rogers became " the promoter of his labors, the ornament 

 and solace of his middle life, and the devoted companion and 

 support of his declining years. "J Recently she has edited, very 



*Josiah Parsors Cooke. Notice of William Barton Rogers, Founder of the 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Proceedings of the American Academy 

 of Arts and Sciences, vol. sviii, p. 42S-43S. 



t A Sketch of the History of the University of Virginia. Charlottesville, Va., 

 1880. 



J An address delivered before the Society of the Alumni of the University of 

 Virginia, on Commencement day, June 27, 1883. By William Cabell Rives. 



