4 i 8 PIONEERS OF SCIENCE IN AMERICA. 



principles of mathematics, he was always able to kindle the 

 enthusiasm of the students, and make the most vivid and last- 

 ing impressions upon their minds. We were not surprised, 

 therefore, to note, in a Virginia newspaper, an exciting descrip- 

 tion of the way Prof. Rogers was received by his old students 

 at the semi-centennial of the University of Virginia, where he 

 " was the central object, on whom were fixed the eyes and 

 hearts of the great concourse there assembled from all parts 

 of the country. It was difficult to get near enough to speak 

 to him, surrounded as he was by such numbers of those who 

 in years long past had attended his lectures." He made an 

 address, the reception of which was described by the writer 

 with a pardonable warmth : " At the dinner of the alumni, 

 Prof. Rogers addressed them in a speech of half an hour. It 

 was a wonderful specimen of eloquence. The old students 

 beheld before them the same William B. Rogers who, thirty-five 

 years before, had held them spellbound in his class of natural 

 philosophy ; and as the great orator warmed up, these men for- 

 got their age ; they were again young, and showed their enthu- 

 siasm as wildly as in the days of yore, enraptured by his elo- 

 quence, they made the lecture room of the university ring with 

 their applause. Such was the effect produced by the off-hand 

 words of this distinguished man of science and unrivalled 

 orator ; and those who have heard him in his moments of 

 inspiration will not wonder at the account we have given." 



