tern in the United States. He was one of the practical advisers of Samuel P. B. Morse in the construction of the first electro-magnetic recording telegraph-line in the United States which was established in 1844 between Washington and Baltimore. When the experiment had reached a successful issue he was appointed superintendent of the line, with his office in Baltimore, and there made numerous improvements in the system. Subsequently he invented several important telegraphic instruments, and he was one of the incorporators, on 15 March, 1845, of the Magnetic telegraph company, the first telegraph company in the United States. He was associated in 1848 in the incorporation of the American telegraph company, and had charge of its lines from Boston to New York. Mr. Rogers was its first superintendent, and was likewise superintendent of the Western union. Bankers and brokers', and Southern and Atlantic lines. During the civil war he was acting master in the volunteer navy, and he afterward returned to Baltimore, where he spent the remaining years of his life. Mr. Rogers published "Telegraph Dictiionary and Seaman's Signal-Book" (Baltimore, 1845); "American Semaphoric Signal-Book" (1847); "American Code of Marine Signals" (1854); and, with Walter F. Larkins. edited "Rogers's Commercial Code of Signals for all Nations" (1859).
ROGERS, Horatio, lawyer. b. in Providence, R. I., 18 May, 1836. His grandfather, John Rogers and two of his great-uncles, were officers in the
Revolution. The grand-son was graduated at Brown in 1855, admitted to the bar, served with great credit during the civil war, and was brevetted
brigadier - general of volunteers 1:! March, 1865. Gen. Rogers has served for several years as attorney-general of Rhode Island. He is a prolific
newspaper and magazine writer, and has delivered several orations on public occasions, the most notable being at the unveiling of the equestrian statue
of Gen. Burnside in Providence, R. I., 4 July. 1887. He also published " The Private Libraries of Providence" (Providence, 1878), and annotated and published the " Journal of Lieut. James M. Hadden. Chief of the English Artillery during the Burgnyne Campaign" (Albany, 1884), the prefatory chapter
and the notes to which work are characterized by great research.
ROWERS. James, Canadian R. C. bishop, b. in Mount Charles, Donegal, Ireland, 11 July, 1826. He was ordained a priest in 1851, became professor
at St. Mary's college, Halifax, in 1859, and was consecrated the first Roman Catholic bishop of Chatham, New Brunswick, in I860.
ROGERS, James Blythe, chemist, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 11 Feb., 1802; d. there, 15 June, 1852.
He was the eldest son of Patrick Kerr Rogers, who
was graduated at the medical department of the
University of Pennsylvania in 1802, and in 1819
was elected professor of natural philosophy and
mathematics at William and Mary, where he
remained until his death. James was educated at
William and Mary, and, after preliminary studies
with Dr. Thomas E. Bond, received the degree of
M. D. from the University of Maryland in 1822.
Subsequently he taught in Baltimore, but soon
afterward settled in Little Britain, Lancaster co.,
Pa., and there practised medicine. Finding this
occupation uncongenial, he returned to Baltimore
and became superintendent of a large manufactory
of chemicals. He devoted himself assiduously to
the study of pure and applied chemistry, and
became professor of that branch in Washington
medical college, Baltimore, also lecturing on the
same subject at the Mechanics' institute. In 1835
he was called to the same chair in the medical
department of Cincinnati college, where he
remained until 1839, spending his summer vacations
in field-work and chemical investigations in
connection with the geological survey of Virginia,
which was then under the charge of his brother
William. In 1840 he settled permanently in
Philadelphia, where he became an assistant to his
brother Henry, at that time state geologist of
Pennsylvania, and in 1841 he was appointed lecturer on
chemistry in the Philadelphia medical institute, a
summer school. He was elected professor of
general chemistry at the Franklin institute in 1844,
and held that chair until his election in 1847 to
succeed Robert Hare as professor of chemistry in
the University of Pennsylvania. Prof. Rogers was
a representative at the National medical convention
in 1847, and a delegate to the National
convention for the revision of the U. S. Pharmacopœia
in 1850, and a member of various learned societies.
He contributed papers to scientific journals, and
with his brother Robert prepared the seventh
edition of Edward Turner's “Elements of Chemistry”
and William Gregory's “Outlines of Organic
Chemistry,” in one volume (Philadelphia, 1846).
See “Memoir of the Life and Character of James B.
Rogers,” by Dr. Joseph Carson (Philadelphia, 1852).
— His brother,
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William Barton, geologist, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 7 Dec., 1804; d. in Boston, Mass., 30 May, 1882, was educated by his father and at William and Mary. In 1827 he delivered a series of lectures on science before the Maryland institute, and in 1828 he succeeded his father in the chair of physics and chemistry at William and Mary, where he remained for seven years. At this time he carried on investigations on dew and on the voltaic battery, and prepared a series of papers on the green sand and calcareous marl of eastern Virginia and their value as fertilizers. He then accepted the professorship of natural philosophy and geology in the University of Virginia, where he remained until 1853, attaining a high reputation as a lecturer. In 1835 he was called upon to organize the geological survey of Virginia, mainly in consequence of his printed papers and addresses. His brother, Henry D. Rogers, was at that time state geologist of Pennsylvania, and together they unfolded the historical geology of the great Appalachian chain. Among their joint special investigations were the study of the solvent action of water on various minerals and rocks, and the demonstration that coal-beds stand in close genetic relation to the amount of disturbance to which the inclosing strata have been submitted, the coal becoming harder and containing less volatile matter as the evidence of the disturbance increases. Together they published a paper on “The Laws of Structure of the more Disturbed Zones of the Earth's Crust,” in which the wave theory of mountain-chains was first announced. This was followed later by William B. Rogers's statement of the law of distribution of faults. In 1842 the
