Jump to content

Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 49.djvu/279

From Wikisource
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
SKETCH OF JAMES BLYTHE ROGERS.
265

dents. He was for a time Professor of Chemistry in the Franklin Medical College, and represented this institution in the National Medical Convention, held in Philadelphia in 1847, which organized the American Medical Association.

In 1847 he succeeded the celebrated Dr. Robert Hare as Professor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania—a curious coincidence in connection with his father's succeeding Dr. Hare at Williamsburg. In this position he remained until his death, five years later. He was also one of the representatives of the university in the National Convention of 1850 for revising the Pharmacopœia of the United States.

In 1846 he was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society, and the following year joined the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

Dr. Rogers was of slight frame and never enjoyed robust health. In his latter years he suffered at times from nervous exhaustion and defective nutrition, probably induced by unremitting labor. He died June 15, 1852, leaving a widow, two sons, William B. and Henry A., also a daughter, Mary V. Rogers.

Never favored by prosperity. Dr. Rogers was particularly straitened in circumstances during the first part of his residence in Philadelphia. It was not until he entered upon his last professorship that he received a comfortable salary. The institutions with which he had been connected before were small and weak or came to grief in some way that could not be anticipated. While lack of shrewdness and assertiveness on his own part may have contributed to hinder his advancement, his worth as a teacher is beyond question. He was everywhere esteemed by his colleagues and popular among his students. Dr. Carson said of him, "Disinterested and generous in his relations with the world, mild and conciliating in deportment, open and affable when approached, urbane to every one, his virtues shone conspicuously within the circle of his friends. With his pupils he was sympathizing; he entered cheerfully into their discouragements and difficulties; and those who confided to him received that encouragement and counsel so grateful to the student's feelings. He was emphatically the student's friend."



At the School of Horticulture, Geneva, Switzerland, fourteen professors are engaged in teaching the various branches of the science, which include floriculture, arboriculture, kitchen gardening, landscape architecture, forest culture, vine dressing, zoölogy, bee raising, botany, chemistry, and metallurgy. A considerable part of the school day is devoted to practical work under the direction of five superintendents.