New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-19
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
typography OF A MAN OF SCIENCE

tavo. M 427, 451 Houghton. MH'i" "a w.
~ limited but wonderfully active circ'e Vi
American scientists. teachers ana ore""'ne'e'
WILLIAM, Barton Rogers was ior many 80,
principal figure. Sixty years ago ne was -
nent among the developers OF s'ie"""N 49,.
-, ~ y,ry,nia. later he became one Oh 'e
chief promoters OF State geologic s"r|e!', ,,ro
a., md most characteristic success OF MS iiie'
49, orgon,zed and established the MASSACHUSETTS,
Ynst,tu,e Of Technology. In preparing INC 'i'e
rarhv ~ such a character an edr'or ia.es
rorn,oxine alternative. Ii he Is 10 atrae' 'e
General reader he must be succlhct' Al i' 10 "
satisfy the large circle of personal li'ehus' pr
fessional associates and interested sPe'
no must give ample room to minor "cloe"'s o.
,or,.,y details Perhaps wisely. Mrs Rogers mas
.o..n the latter course. Her reticence vi iee'-
,ns ber ou,et taste and her thoroughness rs
compiler unite to adapt her WORK. Priiiai n.y. "
, not exclusively, to this inner circle
while. the general reader is practcaii' o"i-eu
from acquaintance WIN
typical and unusual ar, p.oo-s
ohoroc,eristics so thoroughly American ooii'i-
ro,oa nv nurposes so intensely scentlnc' his
.oroor WAS pre-eminently one OF lnleHec'uoi
ambition. Whatever he learned. he iearneo u!
nord work. His father, DR.. P. X. Rogers was
Scotch.Irsh emigrant Of meagre purse. IN tne
Hibernian notices Of that worthy ooc'0' "o'
smith would have found material coi'se"".
his pen At twenty-five the young paiio' AN
been forced to leave Ireland Tor at'achiHs '"o
Government Twice on this side OF the wafer
he lost a respectable practice through the "i''''
stcal bent Of his energies. Whatever he so"eu
no reaped debts Finally. at forty-five' ne se'ueu
down as a poorly paid but enthusiastic teaeher
NJ natural philosophy and chemistry IN "ii''a'i
and Mary College. Virginia. There IN 'he oe
y,s,nr of primitive apparatus for his classes and
in the speculations of his lecture-room' he 1ouho
free nlay for his ambitions. For. however I'M
practical he might be. his turn of mind had al
ways been scientific and his intentions serious
To Irish yagary guided the reins in his some
what cratic career Scotch energy as certainly
n,ied the whip what is the use Of your com
plaining of mankind?" he wrote to his son
James. when that poor fellow was searching for
his first employment The world as yet owes
you nothing. Up to this time you nave been
simply a recipient of its benefits. Make yourself
worthy of place and you VIII ma
one"
The doctors four sons inherited his capacity
for hard work, and added to II capacity FOR
success They were all frail of physique. but, to
borrow the figures of one of their euogists, they
preserved and made use of their delicate frames
adjusted instruments of weighing, measurement
and observation to be found in their labora-
tories. From their youth up these four worthy
Young men were undeviatingy intent on intel
lectual attainment. No ray of origin al humor
ever lights up their correspondence. Occasion
ally on borrowed wit one Of them attempts some
verbal fun but the capital is meagre and the
enterprise unprosperous. With no regard to pri-
ority of age-for among themselves they were all
equals--they advise. eXhort, caution and restrain
one another. above all. my dear brother'
writes William (aetat twenty to his senior
James "be not too dfident of yourself when
a favorable occasion is presented for display
of your claims to the attention of the COM
r1unity. This is not a country in which retiring
merit is ever likely 10 be rewarded. Here
talents cannot succeed without enterprise, and
every man is expected to achieve his own great
ness"
Unqualified seriousness of purpose is seldom
compatible with tact, yet Mr.. Rogers was I'M
usually tactful. Quiet and self-controled as he
was the stress Of American life, to which he
had been used from boyhood. was in way con-
genial to him. In the furtherance of his sclen-
tific objects he took account Of it, adapted NM
self to it, even made use Of it, The following
suggestion regarding a course OF lectures on
physics appears in one Of his letters TO brother
In Philadelphia and is characteristic OF the man:
As the subject of internal Improvements has
excited much attention in Pennsylvania mleht
not an exhibition of the comparative ADVANTAGES
Of railway and canal transportation be pre-
sented to your citizens with interest ana ad-
vantage? You aware that various parucu,
lars of a curious nature to the unniormed
might he introduced in connection with this SUBJ
iect Thus the equilibrium OF forces on an IN
clined plane; the application or the laws OF
centrifugal, force in the meanderings or the
road. the property of the wave OF swiftest de-
scent: the laws of fiction: the modification OF
animal or mechanical energy by the veoc,ry o Oh
the motto, together with a general account or
the properties of steam and the structure OF the
steam engine-would supply curious and inter-
estings matter for several discourses.
Before the war the little university town OF
Charlottesville, where Mr.. Rogers early estab-
ush.d himself as a professor. was full of hot
h,oods from the South. Drinking bouts and riots
,.ere in pIenty and the general public, law
,ess enough itself. seems TO have approved or
both the drink and the pistols. The houses OF
professors were broken into, the professors lhem-
solves were wantonly attacked upon the street,
and one of them was shot down IN coio pioou
before his own doorstep. Such an atmosphere
however much it may have retarded the intel
IectuaI growth Of the students, no doubt tested
the skill and stimulated the faculties or the pro-
<essors II was in combating the pretentious
ignorance Of local politicians. however. that Mr.
rogers found the greatest demand upon his skill
as an expostor. Even in Boston, which, by us
pra-eminent enlightenment, had finally attracted
him within it's boundaries. he found legislators
suspicious nggardy and short-sighted. AT first
appropriations for the Institute OF Technology
could be secured only conditonally; they were
TO be returned unless the public property about
the Institute appreciated in value within two
years as to cover the cost of the original grant.
With such a public before him Mr. Rogers
needed all his earnestness and all his fiuency.
with respect to my own exertons," he once
wrote to his brother Henry in letter Of sound
advice IL have always observed that my sue
cess in exposition is proportioned TO the earnest
ness with which ] engage in it. Too minute an
attention to accuracy OF phraseology will infal-
e. 10 lct