MUSEUM. 



A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Research in Natural Science. 



Vol. I. 



ALBION, N. Y., OCT. 15, 1895. 



No. 12 



Charles Valentine Riley. 



It is with deep sorrow we record 

 the death of this distinguished and 

 indefatigable worker in science. In 

 Washington, on the morning of the 

 14th of September, in company with 

 his son. Prof. R)]ey started on his 

 wheel for the city from his residence, 

 Wyoming Avenue. They bowled on 

 at a fast rate all along the route, and 

 when the level space was reached at 

 the foot of the hill, where Connecti- 

 cut Avenue intersects with S Street, 

 the w^heels were Hying with more ra- 

 pidity than the careful professor usual- 

 ly attained. Suddenly the front wheel 

 of his machine struck a small rock and 

 twisted completely around. The 

 shock was so sudden that Prof. Riley 

 was thrown violently forward over the 

 handle bars and landed on his head 

 and face. He retained his hold on the 

 handles, however, and the bicycle fell 

 on top of him. He was unconscious 

 when picked up. 



A number of physicians were sum- 

 moned at once, and within a few min- 

 utes the sufferer was receiving treat- 

 ment. 



Blood was flowing from the ears, 

 indicating that there was a fracture of 

 the skull. He seemed to be almost at 

 death's door w^hen he was lifted into 

 the ambulance and carried to the home 

 from which he had gone in full health 

 and vigor but a few minutes before. 

 The skull was found to be fractured at 

 the bace of the brain. The patient 



gradually sank, and at 11:50 P. M. 

 life passed away. 



Charles Valentine Riley was born 

 in London, September 18, 1843. 

 His early life was spent in rural Eng- 

 land, much of it in the pretty village 

 of Walton, On-the-Thames, between 

 Hampton Court and Windsor. At the 

 age of II, he entered the College of 

 St. Paul, Dieppe France. After three 

 years' attendance there he spent three 

 years more in a private school in Bonn, 

 Prussia. 



Even in these early days his talent 

 for drawing was noticeable, and curi- 

 ously enough, as an indication of the 

 future, he had a great fancy for pro- 

 ducing exqusite delineations of butter- 

 flies, moths and other insects. 



While his drawing teacher. Prof. A. 

 Hoe, was urging him to repair to Paris 

 and devote himself to art, he was by 

 family circumstances thrown upon his 

 own resources, and at the early age 

 of 17 he sailed for America, went 

 West and settled wdth Mr. G. H. Ed- 

 wards, Kankakee County, Illinois, on 

 a stock farm. 



Three years w^ere spent here, years 

 during which the boy was distinguish- 

 ed by his love of work and by a most 

 marked tendency for original research, 

 which took the direction of the im- 

 provement of farm processes and farm 

 stock. Those who know him say that 

 he wonld have made a mark as an ag- 

 riculturist had not his health failed 

 him under the great strain, so that at 

 the age of 20 years he went to Chica- 



