382 WILLIAM T. ROEPPER. 



per was born in the village of Peilau, near the Moravian settlement 

 of Gnadenfrei, in Lower Silesia, Germany, March 7th, 1810. In early 

 life he qualified himself for service in the Moravian Church, and for 

 several years taught at different church schools. He came to America 

 in 1840, at the request of the authorities, to engage in the financial 

 work of the Moravian Church, and was employed in this until 1869, 

 residing most of the time at Bethlehem. At the opening of the Le- 

 high University in 1866, Mr. Roepper was appointed Professor of 

 Mineralogy and Geology, and Curator of the Museum. He retained 

 the professor's chair only three years, discharging his duties with 

 marked success during that time, but he remained Curator of the 

 Museum until 1871. The latter years of his life were spent in the 

 scientific and historical studies in which he was so much interested. 



In the death of Professor Roepper the science of his adopted country 

 has met with a real loss. Independent of his scientific attainments, 

 he was a man of unusual culture, a thorough scholar in the classics 

 and in history, and an accomplished musician. It was to mineralogy, 

 however, that he especially devoted himself, and in this branch of 

 science he occupied a high position. The mathematical relations of 

 the forms of crystals was a subject to which he gave much study. He 

 was not less diligent in the chemical investigation of minerals, and his 

 thorough knowledge of the practical side of mineralogy caused his 

 opinion as an expert to be frequently sought by those engaged in the 

 mining and smelting of ores. The discovery by him of deposits of 

 zinc ore in the Saucon Valley, Penn., was one which did much to 

 benefit the town in which he resided, but from which he gained nothing 

 himself. He contributed several papers on mineralogical subjects to 

 this Journal ; one of these deserves especial mention because a min- 

 eral species there described, an iron-manganese-zinc chrysolite from 

 Stirling Hill, N. J., is now called Roepperite after him. Those who 

 knew him well will appreciate that, as the result of his patient work, 

 his contributions to scientific literature might have been much more 

 numerous but for the delicate modesty and lack of desire for outside 

 reputation which characterized him. 



Professor Roepper was a man of most genial and attractive personal 

 character, who will be long remembered by all who had the privilege 

 of his intimate acquaintance. 



