tions to astronomy, mathematics, and especially to meteorology. His labors in regard to the latter branch of science commenced immedi ately after his graduation, and were continued, almost uninterruptedly, until the time of his death. He was early recognized as one of the meteorologists of the country, and, on the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution, he was invited to become one of its collaborators in that line. All the materials which were collected from the obser vers of the Institution, and from those of the army from 1854 to 1859 inclusive, were placed in his hands for reduction and discussion. This work was conscientiously and thoroughly performed, and the results published in a quarto volume of upward of 1200 pages. In conducting this work, Prof. Coffin engaged the services of some of the students of Lafayette College, and a large number of women. The wages of these computers were paid by an appropriation from Congress, while the services of Prof. Coffin himself, in directing and superintending the whole, were entirely gratuitous. But the great work to which he owes his celebrity, in all parts of the world, is his treatise on "The Winds of the Northern Hemisphere," published in the "Transactions of the Smithsonian Institution," vol. vi., in 1853. This work had been commenced at least ten years before the date of its publication, a communication having been made in relation to it to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in 1848. The materials on which it was based were derived from all accessible sources, including 600 different stations on land, and numerous positions at sea, extending from the equator to the 83d degree of north latitude, the most northerly point ever reached by man, and embracing an aggregate period of over 2,800 years. The design of the work was to ascertain, as far as possible, the mean direction in which the lower stratum of the air moves in different portions of the Northern Hemisphere, its rate of progress, the modification it undergoes in different months of the year, the amount of deflecting forces, and its relative velocity from different points of the compass. The collection of this material involved an amount of correspondence and bibliographical research which but few would undertake, even with the hope of pecuniary reward, and still fewer for the love of truth, and the acquisition of knowledge for its own sake. Bnt the labor of computation, and discussion of the materials, was an almost Herculean task, to which years of silent and unobtrusive labor were devoted. The work consisted mainly of about 140 quarto tables of figures, with descriptive deductions, and illustrated by maps. Each of these figures is the result of laborious calculations, since the method of determining the velocity and direction of the wind is the same as that employed by the mariner in determining the distance in a straight line, and direction at the end of a given time, from the place of his departure. In this work Prof. Coffin was the first clearly to establish the fact, by accurate comparison of observations, that there are three great zones of winds in the Northern Hemisphere. The first belt is that of the region of the easterly trade-winds, extending northward in the Western Hemisphere to about the 32d degree north latitude, and in Europe to the 42d degree. The second is the great belt around the world of the return-trdes, in which the predominant direction is from the west. This extends northward in America to 56° and in Europe and Asia to about 66° north latitude, Beyond this, principally within the Arctic Circle, is a belt of easterly or northeasterly winds. The common pole of these belts or zones has not the same position as that of the geometrical pole of the earth. It appears to be in latitude 84° and longitude 105° west of Greenwich, and has been denominated by Prof. Coffin the meteorological pole. These results are in general accordance with the mathematical deductions from the theory of the winds of the globe, which considers them as due to the combined action of the movement produced in the air by the greater heat of the equator, and the rotation of the earth on its axis. The researches of Prof. Coffin also strikingly exhibit the fact of the influence of the seasons in modifying the direction of the wind, or in producing the results denominated monsoons. Thus, along the eastern coast of North America, as is shown on the maps, the tendency during the summer months of the opposing forces is to lessen the dominant westerly wind, and this effect is noticed even beyond the Mississippi, as well as in the Atlantic Ocean along our coast. The effect is, undoubtedly, due to the change of temperature in the land— the temperature of the ocean remaining nearly the same during the year, while that of the land is greatly increased in summer above the mean, and depressed in winter. From this cause the air will tend to flow toward the centre of the continent from the ocean in summer, and from the same centre toward the ocean in winter. The results of the investigations of Prof. Coffin have been referred to in all the treatises on meteorology which have appeared since their publication, and they have been employed with other materials as the basis of the wind-charts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, prepared and published by the English Board of Trade. In attentively studying the result of Prof. Coffin's labors, we cannot but be struck with his conscientious regard for accuracy, and his dẹvotion to truth. In all cases in which the results do not conform to the theory which explains the general phenomena, the discrepancies are fully pointed out; and, where he is unable to suggest an hypothetical cause of the anomaly, he candidly acknowledges his ignorance. In this respect he is an admirable example of a successful investigator, since errors in science as frequently occur from defects of the heart as from those of the head. After the publication of the work on the winds, he continued to collect materials, at first with a view to an appendix, and finally extended his investigations to the winds of the entire globe. To aid in this enterprise, the Smithsonian Institution placed in his hands all the observations on the winds, which it had obtained from its numerous observers during the twenty years since the system, was commenced, together with the observations made by the officers of the army, as well as the extensive series of materials in the various series of transactions of scientific societies of the Old World, obtained through the exchanges of the Institution. This work, for several years past, Prof. Coffin prosecuted with unremitting assiduity during all the intervals which could be spared from his laborious professional duties. Unfortunately, however, he was not spared to complete the work, although it is in such a condition as to be readily finished under the direction of the principal assistant employed by Prof. Coffin. It is expected that the tables will all be completed during the present summer, and that the printing of the work will be commenced next autumn. In reviewing what may be called the extra labors of Prof. Coffin we cannot refrain from endeavoring to impress upon the mind of the general public that men of his character, who do honor to humanity, ought not to be suffered to expend their energies in the drilling of youth in the mere elements of knowledge, and with a compensation not more than sufficient to secure the necessaries of life; that they should be consecrated as officiating priests in the temple of knowledge, be furnished with all the appliances and assistance necessary to the accomplishment of their objects, namely, the extension of the bounds of human thought and human power. The premature death of Prof. Coffin is a loss to the world, and, in regard to him, we have to deplore that so much of his valuable life was expended in the drudgery of teaching, which ought to have been devolved upon inferior minds. [We have taken the above sketch of Prof. Coffin from the Popular Science Monthly. We thought that our readers would be glad to see, in this form, some record of Dr. Coffin's labors in the field of science. The sketch, able as it is, does not tell the story of his lovely life and pure Christian character. We make room for the closing paragraphs of an article that appeared some time ago in the Christian Weekly :] Of his forty-five years devoted to teaching, Dr. Coffin spent five in Williams, and twenty-seven in Lafayette College. At the latter institution he did a very effective work. Having fully identified himself with the college, and having passed with it through various vicissitudes during the early years of his professorship, he was subsequently permitted to witness and participate in the events which have marked its progress and prosperity. It remains only to speak of his personal life. He had many friends, but no enemies. Conscientious, guileless, unselfish, and incapable of malice or resentment, it is not surprising that President Cattell, who had been intimately associated with him for seventeen years, should say in a recent address : "I feel it to be a lifelong blessing that I have known such a man; that I have seen how it was possible for great learning and devout faith to be so happily blended; in a word how divine grace can make this poor human nature so radiant with beauty." To the students he was uniformly kind; never did he knowingly injure any one. For several months his failing health led him to expect death; but his immediate illness was comparatively brief. As his family gathered around him, in his intervals of consciousness, he spoke of things beyond, and his ear eagerly caught the words of prayer and praise. As the line, "Thou, O Christ, art all I want,” was sung, he clapsed his hands and said, "Yes, Christ is all I want." This was his last coherent sentence. A few hours later he passed away to be with the Lord he loved. Christ was his, and he was Christ's for ever. He died February 6th, in his sixty-seventh year. He was buried from the Brainerd Church, Easton, in which he had been accustomed to worship, and in which for many years he had been a ruling elder. A large concourse of citizens united with the family and the faculty, students and friends of the college, in paying their last tribute to his memory. IN SEPTEMBER. Feathery clouds are few and fair, LETTER TO A SON IN COLLEGE. BY A. N. SENIA. My Dear Son :-After you left home for college it seemed to me to be well to lay before you in writing what I said to you in our last interview, lest you might let it slip. Remember that now is the critical time with you. At this juncture good advice cannot be too often given, nor too often called to mind. Now your character, your tastes, your habits, will begin to.form. And all your future happiness and usefulness will depend largely on what you now do and do not do. Then weigh well what I say. Let me remind you that in this formative, inexperienced time of your life you cannot be too cautious in selecting your companions. It must be that you will be brought into relations more or less close with a large number of young men whom you never saw before, and of whose antecedents and purposes you have no knowledge. And your own class too will be made up of students differing very much in their minds and hearts, words and works, thoughts and desires. They will not all be good and upright. Some will be bad and treacherous. always is so. Moral obliquity is always and everywhere to be found. Therefore be, and always be, on your guard. With the good and the bad It |