SKETCH OF ROBERT EMPIE ROGERS. 841 



was elected a Fellow in 1857. At one of these meetings, according 

 to Dr. Ruschenberger, lie related an incident in the case of a trial 

 for poisoning He, as an expert witness, contributed to the estab- 

 lishment of the fact that the subnitrate of bismuth sold in the 

 drug stores was contaminated with arsenic, which had not previ- 

 ously been suspected. He became a permanent member of the 

 American Medical Association in 1852, when he attended the meet- 

 ing at Richmond as the representative of the University of Vir- 

 ginia. He represented the University of Pennsylvania in the 

 meetings of 1853 and 1872, representing also at the latter meeting 

 the medical profession of Philadelphia, and delivering the address 

 of welcome to the delegates. He took an active part in the forma- 

 tion of the Society of the Alumni of the Medical Department of 

 the University of Pennsylvania, and was its treasurer for several 

 years. With his brothers Henry and William he took part, in 

 1840, in the organization of the Association of American Geol- 

 ogists and Naturalists, which afterward became the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science. The catalogue of 

 his writings includes four papers under his own name alone in 

 physiology, chemistry, and metallurgy ; twelve papers by him 

 and William B. Rogers in chemistry ; a paper on the analysis of 

 magnesian limestone by him and Martin H. Boye* ; three papers 

 by Dr. H. R. Linderman and him in metallurgy and electricity ; a 

 paper by James B. Rogers and him on the alleged insolubility of 

 copper in hydrochloric acid; and seven papers by William B. 

 Rogers and him on subjects in chemistry and meteorology. He 

 also edited the American edition of Lehmann's Physiological 

 Chemistry, which was published in 1855 ; and he was joint author, 

 with James Blythe Rogers, of a text-book of inorganic and organic 

 chemistry, compiled from the works of Dr. Edward Turner and 

 Dr. William Gregory, which was published in 184G. Besides his 

 regular occupations, Prof. Rogers was sometimes engaged as an 

 expert in criminal trials; frequently delivered lectures, illus- 

 trated by experiments, for the benefit of institutions ; and often 

 did works of kindness and benevolence. Three instances are men- 

 tioned in which he heroically saved persons from drowning. He 

 had a remarkable faculty, Dr. Ruschenberger says, in the use of 

 tools of all kinds, and a respectable talent for mechanical con- 

 trivance. He was author of many inventions notable among 

 them the Rogers and Black steam boiler and of several modifi- 

 cations and improvements of electrical apparatus. This ability 

 was early manifested, in 1835-36, in his original experiments on 

 osmosis, in which he demonstrated how changes in the blood are 

 produced by respiration. 



