680 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN ADAM RYDER. 



quitted for it a congenial field of labor under the United States Fish 

 Commission, in which he had rendered great service to the Government 

 and .acquired for himself a world-wide reputation. Thenceforth he 

 devoted himself equally, and with a fidelity and effectiveness that ended 

 only with his life, to the work of a teacher and that of an investigator. 

 His characteristic traits were modesty, unselfishness, and sincerity in 

 the search for truth. To these were added a rare- talent for investiga- 

 tion, strong intellectual capacity, and unremitting industry; and these 

 inured not only to the benefit of the school in which he taught, but to 

 the distinct advancement, both in theory and in application to the science 

 of biology, to which his life was consecrated. 



The funeral services were conducted by Prof. George F. Fullerton, 

 vice-provost, and the Rev. Dr. H. C. McCook. His body was cremated. 



A memorial meeting, held in the hall of the Academy ot Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia, April 10, was participated in by members of 

 the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, representatives of the 

 American Philosophical Society, the United States Fish Commission, 

 and the Academy. 1 



Dr. Ryder was elected a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of Philadelphia January 29, 1878, and of the biological section of that 

 body November 15, 1886. He was director of the section from 188G to 

 1888. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society 

 December 17, 1886. The University of Pennsylvania conferred upon 

 him the degree of doctor of philosophy, 1886. He was also a member of 

 the following societies: The Zoological Society of Philadelphia (life 

 member), the American Morphological Society, the American Society of 

 Naturalists, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 the Association of American Anatomists, and the Historical Society of 

 Pennsylvania. 



II. 



Dr. Ryder was a man of restless mental activity. Plan after plan 

 was discussed in his early letters. No defense was offered for this 

 eagerness of spirit. On the contrary, he says in one of his outbursts: 

 ''I see more worlds ahead of me to conquer, so that I have little time 

 to attend to number one, that often restive and troublesome person 

 who is always reaching for toys he ought not to have, greatly to the 

 disadvantage of more serious matters." Circumstances annulled most 

 of his numerous enterprises, but the ideas were, without exception, 

 admirable, and some of them were afterwards realized by others. In 

 In 1879 he proposed to establish in Philadelphia, in conjunction with 

 Mr. W. C. Seal, a depot of material for biological laboratories and 

 class-room demonstrations. It was intended that Mr. Seal would 

 collect and j)reserve the specimens which Dr. Ryder would undertake 

 to identify and to furnish all other information. It was designed to 

 embrace marine and fresh water as well as terrestrial forms. In asso- 

 ciation with his friend, Mr. J. S. Kingsley, he at one time thought of 



1 See note on page 673. 



