1895.] Scientific News. 405 
and he had few if any equals in Europe. At the same time he cannot 
be said to have had a very systematic mind. He was an excellent 
delineator of natural objects. Personally, he was a most amiable man, 
and he endeared himself to his colleagues and pupils. He leaves a 
widow. . ' 
Dr. William S. W. Ruschenberger died March 25th, 1895, 
in his 88th year. He was born in Cumberland County, New Jersey, 
September 4, 1807. After receiving an academic education in Phila- 
delphia and New York schools, he entered the medical service of the 
United States navy as a surgeon’s mate, August 10, 1826. 
His medical tutors were Dr. J. P. Hopkinson and Dr. Nathaniel 
Chapman, of the Medieal Department of the University of Pennsylva- 
nia, from which he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in March, 
1830. He was commissioned a surgeon in the navy April 4, 1831, 
and from 1835 to 1837 was Fleet Surgeon to the East India Squadron, 
with which he circumnayigated the globe. In 1840-42 Dr. Ruschen- 
berger was attached to the naval rendezvous in Philadelphia. From 
1843 he was Superintendent of the United States Naval Hospital at 
Brooklyn, and during his term of service there organized the Naval 
Laboratory, for supplying the service with pure drugs. He was again 
Fleet Surgeon of the East India Squadron from 1847 to 1850, Fleet 
Surgeon of the Pacific Squadron from 1854 to 1857, and of the Med- 
iterranean Squadron from August, 1860, to July, 1861, having served 
in the intervals between cruises at Philadelphia. 
During the civil war Dr. Ruschenberger was surgeon of the Boston 
Navy Yard. From 1865 to 1870 he was on duty in Philadelphia. 
From 1866 to the time of his retirement, September 4, 1869, he was 
the senior officer in the Medical Corps, and March 3, 1871, he was 
commissioned Medical Director on the retired list, with the relative 
rank of Commodore. 
Dr. Ruschenberger was for several years President of the Academy 
of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. His long service as an officer in 
the navy did not, however, qualify him for corresponding positions in 
civil life. His habit of enforcing technical discipline was offset by a 
courteous and affable bearing. He wrote several books describing his 
travels, and a primary school-book of Natural History, which was the 
first one of the kind in the country, and was of considerable service to 
men now in middle life. 
The Laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor.—The laboratory has 
experienced some difficulty in the past years in properly accommodating 
