676 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN ADAM RYDER. 



Meelian, an old friend of his father, for advice. Mr. Meehan states that 

 Eyder visited him at his residence in Germautown. His funds were 

 low, and to save money he had walked the entire distance, 12 miles, 

 from Philadelphia. Mr. Meehan was interested in Eyder, who was, 

 however, urged not to attempt to live on the small amount of $5 a week 

 permitted by the fund. But Eyder was not to be deterred. He felt 

 confident that he could in some way manage, and accordingly, armed 

 with a letter of introduction, he visited the academy and made formal 

 application. This was, at first, unsuccessful, but in the latter part of 

 the year he was duly appointed. He remained in the academy as a 

 beneficiary of the fund for six years. 



Little is known of his private life during the greater part of this time. 

 In 1879, Mr. J. S. Kingsley, now Professor of Biology in Tuft's College, 

 Massachusetts, was his associate, and through him it is ascertained that 

 Eyder lived on the top floor of No. 1113 Chestnut street. His chamber 

 and laboratory were one. Upper rooms in business blocks were then 

 cheap, and food at moderate prices, offered for the use of employees of 

 newspaper offices in the neighborhood, could be obtained day and night. 

 The markets and restaurants of Philadelphia furnish plain, wholesome 

 food at rates which compare favorably with those in any American city. 

 Meals at 15 cents each are important factors in solving a problem of 

 living on 70 cents a day. It was the custom of the proprietor of the 

 restaurant frequented by Eyder to put aside for him the oyster shells, 

 which, after each meal, were inspected for organisms. In this way he 

 discovered the sponge Camaraphysema. Doubtless the work on the 

 habits and food of the oyster, on which Byder's fame in a measure rests, 

 began in these desultory studies. 



It was a time of formative plans. Among these may be recalled — 

 an educational scheme by which the teachers in the public schools were 

 to be prepared for imparting the elements of biology to their pupils; a 

 course of popular lectures at the Wagner Institute; and a series of 

 papers on natural history for a Philadelphia paper. None of these 

 came to anything. 



Such a life in a region of stores and warehouses is well enough dur- 

 ing the week. The days and nights are separated by the changes in 

 light — but not by changes in habit. But ou Sunday the business part 

 of a city is but little better than a desert. Eyder was in the habit of 

 spending this day, when the season favored his so doing, in the sub- 

 urban districts, or in Fairmount Park. It was on such excursions he 

 discovered Scolopendrella and Eur ypaur opus. 



The previous education of Eyder was one inadequately qualifying 

 him for the career of a naturalist. This, indeed, is not less than that 

 required to equip a student for any intellectual career whatsoever. 

 How immense the labor when one is compelled to equip himself! The 

 naturalist must be a linguist (for there is scarcely a modern European 

 language which may not possess a treasure for his needs) ; he is all the 



