April 1, 1898. 



SCIENCE. 



447 



phism, sexual selection, local variation, 

 and the like? Admitting gratefully the 

 good work of this kind which has been car- 

 ried on in Europe, and especially in our 

 own country, one cannot but regret that 

 from tropical regions, where alone the 

 abundance, complexity and incessant ac- 

 tivity of life afford full prospect of the ade- 

 quate reward of such research, we have 

 little more than isolated notes and uncon- 

 nected and incomplete observations, mere 

 indications — precious as they are — of the 

 rich harvest that lies unreaped for lack of 

 resident workers devoted to the task. 



It is on this account that I earnestly re- 

 new the plea, put forward from this chair 

 on the 5tla of May last, for the establish- 

 ment, in tropical countries, of Biological 

 Stations for the study of the terrestrial 

 fauna ; where, as in the existing Marine 

 Biological Stations, naturalists could fol- 

 low, during a succession of seasons, special 

 lines of observation and experiment under 

 favorable conditions of laboratory and other 

 equipment, free from the hindrances and 

 distractions of ordinary collecting travel, 

 and with all the advantages of mutual help 

 and encouragement. The living expenses, 

 for men of the simple tastes of the natu- 

 ralist, would not be great ; and I feel certain 

 that, with the increasing facilities for swift 

 transport, it would not be long before many 

 students of biology would embrace the op- 

 portunity so provided for the effectual 

 prosecution of researches of the utmost 

 value to science. 



WILLIA3I A. ROGERS. 

 Pbofessoe William A. Eogers was 

 born at Waterford, Connecticut, ISTovember 

 13, 1832, and died at Waterville, Maine, 

 March 1, 1898. His boyhood was spent 

 for the most part in the interior of New 

 York State, in the villages of DeRuyter 

 and Alfred, where he received his prepara- 



tion for college. In 1853 he entered Brown 

 University, from which he was graduated 

 in 1857. Before graduation he had already 

 begun his career as a teacher in a classical 

 academy, and immediately after taking his 

 first degree he was appointed tutor in the 

 academy at Alfred, IST. Y., from which he 

 had gone forth a few years previously as an 

 exceptionally successful student. In 1859 

 he was advanced to the professorship of 

 mathematics and astronomy in Alfred Uni- 

 versity, an institution under the care of the 

 Baptist denomination, of which Professor 

 Eogers was an ardent member throughout 

 his life. This position he held eleven years, 

 though absent part of this time for several 

 specific purposes. Among these absences 

 one was devoted to a year of study in the 

 Harvard College observatory ; six months 

 were occupied in work as an assistant in 

 the same place ; fourteen months were 

 given to service in the navy during the 

 Civil War ; and nearly a year was given to 

 the study of mechanics in the Sheffield 

 Scientific School at ISTew Haven. 



In 1870 Professor Rogers severed his con- 

 nection with Alfred University for the pur- 

 pose of becoming an assistant in the as- 

 tronomical observatory at Harvard, and in 

 1875 he was here made assistant professor 

 of astronomy. This position he retained 

 until 1886, when he accepted the chair of 

 physics and astronomy at Colby University, 

 Waterville, Maine. Here the last dozen 

 years of his life were spent ; but had he 

 lived a month longer he would have re- 

 sumed his connection with Alfred Uni- 

 versity, where a new physical laboratory is 

 now in process of erection. The building 

 was planned by him in 1897, and on the 

 occasion of the laying of the cornerstone, 

 June 23, 1897, Professor Rogers delivered 

 the dedicatory address. His resignation had 

 already been offered to the Trustees of Col- 

 by University, to take effect April 1, 1898. 



During the sixty-five years of his busy 



