

OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (Rouss RUSSELL.) 



469 



while head of the department, and also one of 

 the organizers and a member of the faculty of 

 the School of Mines, now the School of Applied 

 Science, in the university. His original investi- 

 gations were in the direction of experimental 

 physics, and in that domain he showed great orig- 

 inality and skill. His special studies pertained 

 largely to matters in mechanics, optics, acoustics, 

 and electricity. He was one of the first to apply 

 photography to the microscope, and the first to 

 take binocular pictures with that instrument. 

 His researches on the nature of the electric 

 spark and the duration of the flashes are par- 

 ticularly interesting, involving the determination 

 of much more minute intervals of time than were 

 ever measured before. In 1880 he devised a mer- 

 curial air-pump, giving an exhaustion of -^m oTnsw 

 of an atmosphere, a degree more nearly per- 

 fect than had been secured before. The meth- 

 ods of photometry that he originated and his 

 investigations of phenomena that depend on the 

 physiology of vision are very ingenious; and he 

 was the first to make quantitative experiments on 

 color contrasts. His brilliant work on colors led 

 to his recognition as the first authority on that 

 subject, and in recent years his studies in physi- 

 ological optics led to his describing a new color 

 system and a photometric method that is inde- 

 pendent of color. His last published research was 

 concerning regular or specular reflection of Ront- 

 gen rays from polished metallic surfaces. His 

 experiments appear to show that a small per- 

 centage of these rays may be reflected from pol- 

 ished surfaces, and that they consist probably of 

 transverse waves, like those of ordinary light, 

 but of shorter length. Prof. Rood painted in 

 water-colors, was frequently represented in the 

 annual exhibitions, and was a member of the 

 American Water-Color Society from its founda- 

 tion in 1866. He was elected to the National 

 Academy of Sciences in 1865, and in 1867 was a 

 vice-president of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science. The degree of LL. D. 

 was conferred upon him both by Princeton and 

 Yale. The results of his many researches are 

 included in about 100 papers that were published 

 in scientific journals both in the United States 

 and abroad, and especially in the American Jour- 

 nal of Science. He was the author of Modern 

 Chromatics (New York, 1881), a work that, be- 

 sides presenting the fundamental facts connected 

 with our perception of color, contains the results 

 of numerous original investigations on the sub- 

 ject, --and has been accepted as a standard. It 

 is said of him that " he paid little attention to 

 dress and personal adornment, but without any 

 adventitious aid his appearance w r as striking and 

 drew attention to him as a man of mark. He 

 was absolutely truthful himself, and despised any 

 lack of truthfulness in others; he had the cour- 

 age of his convictions; he was frank, very frank 

 sometimes, in expressing his opinion of men and 

 things. He made few advances in the way of 

 acquaintance or friendship, and was apt to re- 

 ceive them with reserve. He had warm and de- 

 voted friends, and he had acquaintances who had 

 no personal attachment to him; but every one 

 who -knew him, or knew of him, respected him 

 and admired his rugged character, his scientific 

 attainments and accomplishments, and his ver- 

 satility." 



Rouss, Charles Broadway, merchant, born in 

 ^yoodsboro, Md.. Feb. 11, 1836; died in New York 

 city. March 3, 1902. He removed with his father 

 to Winchester, Va., where he was in mercantile 

 business till the civil war broke out, when he 

 entered the Confederate army and served through 



the war. He then removed to New York city, 

 and in 1875 began business in a small way for 

 himself, and greatly prospered. He made many 

 gifts to Winchester, Va., for public purposes; 

 founded the Confederate Memorial Hall in Rich- 

 mond and the Physical Laboratory for the Uni- 

 versity of Virginia; presented to New York city 

 a bronze group representing Washington greeting 

 Lafayette, by Bartholdi; and erected in Mount 

 Hope Cemetery, New York, a monument to the 

 Confederate soldiers there. 



Runkle, John Daniel, educator, born in Root, 

 N. Y., Oct. 11, 1822; died in Southwest Harbor, 

 Me., July 8, 1902. He was graduated at Lawrence 

 Scientific School in 1851; appointed to the staff 

 of The American Ephemeris and Nautical Al- 

 manac, with which he remained till 1884; and 

 was editor of The Mathematical Monthly several 

 years. About 1860, when the Massachusetts In- 

 stitute of Technology was projected, he was 

 active in interesting the public in the enterprise. 

 He was a member of its first faculty, and, ex- 

 cepting the period 1870-78, when he was presi- 

 dent, was head of the Mathematical Department 

 till his retirement in 1902, when he was made 

 professor emeritus. 



Russell, Sol Smith, actor, born in Brunswick, 

 Me., June 15, 1848; died in Washington, D. C., 

 April 28, 1902. At the beginning of the civil 

 war he ran away from home and tried to join 

 the National army at Cairo, 111., but was rejected 

 because of his youth. After the departure of the 

 troops, whom he had amused with his songs, jokes, 

 and dances, the manager of the Defiance Theater, 

 of Cairo, offered him an engagement, which he 

 accepted, singing and playing in small rflles. 

 After leaving this company he traveled through 

 the smaller Western towns, singing, giving mono- 

 logues, and playing on various instruments. Later 

 he appeared in larger towns and cities, and after 

 a time he joined the Peake Family of Bellringers, 

 with whom he made extended tours through the 

 United States. He left them to travel with the 

 Berger Company, a similar organization, with 

 which he remained several years. In 1866 he was 

 engaged as low comedian with Ben de Bar's stock 

 company in St. Louis. Here he supported many 

 of the traveling stars of the time and gained his 

 knowledge of dramatic art. He made his first ap- 

 pearance in New York in 1871 at Lina Edwin's 

 Theater, and in 1874 he became a member of 

 Augustin Daly's company. His first appearance 

 a.s a star in New York was in 1880, in Edgewood 

 Folks, at the Park Theater. He soon became, in 

 his own peculiar style of acting, one of the most 

 popular players in the United States. His favor- 

 ite rOles were those requiring the utmost simplicity 

 and gentleness, and he acted them with an ap- 

 parent naturalness that was really the result of 

 an exceedingly artistic and finished method. He 

 was shrewd enough to realize that his talent was 

 confined to this rather limited style, and he ad- 

 hered closely to it. Although he never became 

 a popular favorite in New York city, he had an 

 immense following in the country, and accumu- 

 lated a large fortune. His most notable char- 

 acters were the leading rOles in Edgewood Folks, 

 A Poor Relation, The Tale of a Coat. Peaceful 

 Valley, and A Bachelor's Romance. In the sea- 

 son of 1899 he produced The Honorable John 

 Grigsby, at the Grand Opera-House in Chicago, 

 but he was obliged to close his engagement Dec. 

 18 on account of illness, and he never acted again. 

 In later years he was a resident of Minneapolis, 

 Minn. His first wife was Louise Berger, and 

 after her death he married a daughter of William 

 T. Adams, the writer known as Oliver Optic. 





