WILLIAM BARTON ROGERS. 



1804-1882. 



THE second in age of four brothers eminent in science, 

 William Barton Rogers was born in Philadelphia, Dec. 7, 

 1804. His ancestry will be found in the sketch of his elder 

 brother included in the present volume. The middle name 

 given to him is a loving memorial of his father's respect and 

 friendship for his medical preceptor, Dr. Benjamin S. Barton. 

 William was eight years old when his parents removed to 

 Baltimore and fifteen when they went to Williamsburg. Hence 

 his early education was mostly obtained in these two places. 

 Dr. Ruschenberger mentions that William, while a youth, 

 " was employed in Baltimore by a dealer in crockeryware, and 

 acquired such facility in wrapping packages that he subse- 

 quently reckoned it among his accomplishments." * 



He graduated in 1822 from the College of William and 

 Mary, where his father was then Professor of Natural Philos- 

 ophy and Mathematics, and soon after this he and his brother 

 Henry started a private school in the suburbs of Baltimore. 

 How long the enterprise endured or what was its success have 

 not been ascertained. 



When twenty-two years of age William gave his first lec- 

 tures on science in the Maryland Institute, Baltimore, and the 

 following year was appointed to the professorship in William 

 and Mary College, left vacant by the death of his father, where 

 he remained until 1835. He was then appointed to the chair 

 of Natural Philosophy in the University of Virginia, and there 

 extended his instructions by adding the subjects of miner- 

 alogy and geology to his course. The same year he organized 



* A Sketch of the Life of Robert E. Rogers, M. D., LL. D. f with Biograph- 

 ical Notices of his Father and Brothers. By W. S. W. Ruschenberger, M. D. 

 Read before the American Philosophical Society, Nov. 6, 1885. 



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