May 24, 1912] 
vention of an instrument for determining the 
true direction and velocity of the wind at sea. 
Professor Rotch was naturally intensely 
interested in the recent rapid development of 
aeronautics. His earlier training at the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and 
his untiring zeal in the exploration of the 
upper air, combined to give him this interest. 
He turned his attention largely in that direc- 
tion of late years. It was characteristic of 
him that, not content with the mere collection 
of data, and with investigations of theoretical 
interest, he always strove to make these re- 
sults of practical use. Thus, soon after the 
establishment of his observatory, the issue of 
local weather forecasts was begun, and one of 
the last things which he published (in associa- 
tion with Mr. A. H. Palmer) was a set of 
“Charts of the Atmosphere for Aeronauts ” 
confined to meteorology, and show most em- 
bodying many of the results of observations 
made at Blue Hill in a practical form for the 
use of airmen. 
Professor Rotch’s list of published papers 
and books comprises 183 titles. These cover 
a wide range of subjects, by no means strictly 
confined to meteorology, and show most em- 
phatically how varied were their author’s in- 
terests; how extended was his reading; how 
alert and progressive he was in all he under- 
took. These 183 titles in themselves furnish a 
satisfactory outline of the development of 
meteorological science during the past 25 
years. In addition to the “ Charts of the At- 
mosphere ” just referred to, he published two 
other books, “Sounding the Ocean of Air” 
(1900) and “The Conquest of the Air” 
(1909). 
Professor Rotch gave his support freely to a 
large number of scientific societies and under- 
takings. He was one of the pioneer and most 
enthusiastic members of the New England 
Meteorological Society. He was, for more 
than ten years (1886-96), one of the associate 
editors and one of the mainstays of the Amer- 
acan Meteorological Journal, which did a 
unique work for American meteorology. He 
was a member of the Astronomical and Astro- 
SCIENCE 
811 
physical Society of America; a fellow and of 
late years librarian of the American Academy 
of Arts and Sciences; a member and trustee 
of the Boston Society of Natural History; a 
member of the American Philosophical So- 
ciety, of the Physical Society of London, of 
the International Solar Commission, of the 
International Commission for Scientific 
Aeronautics, of the International Meteorolog~ 
ical Committee; fellow of the Royal Meteoro- 
logical Society (London); member of the 
Société Météorologique de France, of the 
Deutsche Meteorologische Gesellschaft, of 
the Oesterreichische Gesellschaft fiir Meteoro< 
logie and of many other societies. 
He was lecturer at the Lowell Institute, in 
Boston, in 1891, and again in 1898. He was 
a member of the International Jury of Awards 
at the Paris Exposition (1889), and was then 
made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. 
He received the Prussian Orders of the Crown 
(1902) and Red Eagle (1905) of the Third 
Class in recognition of his services in ad- 
vaneing the knowledge of the atmosphere. 
The latest evidence of the high regard in 
which his scientific work was held abroad was 
his selection, by the French ministry of public 
instruction, as exchange professor at the Sor- 
bonne for the year 1912-13. The official letter 
announcing this selection arrived in this 
country within a very few days after Pro- 
fessor Rotch’s death. 
He was a pioneer in a new Science; an in- 
vestigator, whose name is known wherever 
meteorological work is done; a loyal teacher. 
who served without salary; a generous bene- 
factor, who left to the university an enduring: 
monument of his enthusiasm and untiring 
devotion to the science which he himself did 
so much to advance. His life and labor have 
been an inspiration to his scientific colleagues 
everywhere, but especially to those who were 
most closely associated with him in the work 
of his observatory, and in the department of 
the university of whose staff he was a valued 
member. 
Ropert De C. Warp 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
