576 
EDITORIAL. 
OBITUARY. 
Henry  Darwin  Rogers,  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  American  geolo- 
gists, died  on  the  29th  day  of  May,  1866,  at  Glasgow,  in  Scotland.  Prof. 
Rogers  was  born  in  Philadelphia  in  1809,  and  at  the  age  of  21  years  was 
elected  Professor  of  Chemistry  at  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle,  Pa.,  and 
i  afterwards  to  the  Chair  of  Geology  in  the  Collegiate  Department  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania.  He  concluded  the  geological  exploration  of 
New  Jersey  in  1835,  and  in  1836  commenced  his  greatest  work. —the  ex- 
ploration of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania, — which,  after  many  years  of  dili- 
gent labor,  was  brought  to  a  close  ;  but  the  finished  report  did  not  appear 
until  1858,  owing  partly  to  want  of  appropriations  for  publishing  the 
work,  and  partly  to  the  great  care  bestowed  on  its  illustrations,  which 
were  completed  and  published  at  Edinburgh.  In  1857  Prof.  Rogers  was 
elected  to  the  Chair  of  Regius  Professor  of  Geology  and  Natural  History 
in  the  University  of  Glasgow, — an  honor  rarely,  if  ever  before,  bestowed 
on  an  American  savant. 
"  His  great  knowledge  on  many  subjects  he  was  able  to  impart  in  a 
style  equally  clear  and  graceful,  whether  in  public  speaking  or  as  a  writer. 
Few  teachers  of  science  have  excelled  him  in  the  power  of  illustrating 
difficult  subjects,  or  in  commanding  the  attention  of  large  audiences  to 
themes  not  commonly  discussed  in  public  lectures."  He  possessed  re- 
markable powers  as  a  conversationalist,  which  caused  him  to  enjoy  a 
high  social  position,  both  in  Europe  and  America,  with  a  numerous  body 
of  friends. 
M.  Deschamps,  well  known  as  an  eminent  pharmaceutist,  died  at 
Avallon  on  the  14th  day  of  June,  at  the  age  of  62  years.  He  was  a  fre- 
quent contributor  to  the  pharmaceutical  journals,  and  the  author  of  the 
process  for  preserving  ointments  and  cerates  by  benzoin  and  poplar  buds, 
now  so  generally  used  and  approved. 
Prof.  John  A.  Porter. — John  Addison  Porter  died  at  New  Haven, 
Conn.,  on  the  25th  of  August.  Prof.  Porter  was  born  in  Catskill,  N.  Y., 
March  15th,  1823,  and  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1842.  Possessed  of 
literary  as  well  as  scientific  tastes,  he  was  called  to  fill  the  post  first  of 
tutor,  and  then  of  Professor  of  Rhetoric,  in  Delaware  College,  in  Newark, 
N.  J.,  where  he  resided  from  1844  to  1847,  when  he  went  to  Germany  and 
studied  chemistry  under  Prof.  Liebig.  Returning  in  1850,  he  first  filled 
the  Professorship  of  Chemistry  applied  to  the  Arts  in  Brown  University 
for  two  years,  when  he  was  called  to  take  the  place  of  Prof.  John  P.  Nor- 
ton, then  recently  deceased,  as  Professor  of  Analytical  and  Agricultural 
Chemistry  in  Yale  College.  In  1856  he  was  transferred  to  the  chair  of 
Organic  Chemistry,  which  position  he  held  until  he  felt  constrained  by 
his  declining  health  to  resign  it,  in  1864. — Amer.  Jour.  Science  and  Arts, 
Sept.,  1866. 
