SKETCH OF PROFESSOR COFFIN. 505 



tion, agricultural epochs, the migration of birds, etc., were introduced. 

 A determination was also made of the amount of rise in the thermom- 

 eter per hour, during the prevalence of winds from the northeast by- 

 east to south-southwest, and the unequal corresponding decrease of 

 temperature when the winds were from the northwesterly points of 

 compass. 



While at Williams College, Prof. Coffin erected, upon the Grey- 

 lock peak of Saddle Mountain, at a height of nearly 4,000 feet above 

 the ocean, an observatory, where continuous observations were taken, 

 even through the winter season, when for three months it was imprac- 

 ticable to ascend the peak. In this interval the clock-work faithfully 

 did its entire duty. The anemometer had been changed by substi- 

 tuting for the stream of sand a series of cards half an inch square, 

 laid consecutively on a moving band that deposited one of them every 

 fifteen minutes. Each card being inscribed with the day and hour it 

 represented, when the receptacle marked " North," for example, was 

 examined, all the cards found in it indicated the exact quarter-hour in 

 the past three months when the wind was from that direction. In 

 1872 he constructed, for the observatory of the Argentine Confedera- 

 tion, at Cordova, a duplicate of this instrument, with improvements 

 by John M. Junkin, M. D., similar to the one in use at Lafayette Col- 

 lege. 



The "Results of Meteorological Observations for 1854-59," in two 

 volumes, quarto, 1757 pages, prepared under his supervision, under 

 the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, constitute a vast fund 

 of condensed material from which to study the climate of North 

 America. 



But the great work of Prof. Coffin's life was the development of 

 his theory of the winds, under the auspices of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, the following account of which has been furnished us by Prof. 

 Henry, Secretary of the Institution : 



The results of the scientific labors of Prof. Coffin include contribu- 

 tions to astronomy, mathematics, and especially to meteorology. His 

 labors in regard to the latter branch of science commenced immediate- 

 ly 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 Smith- 

 sonian Institution, he was invited to become one of its collaborators 

 in that line. All the materials which were collected from the ob- 

 servers of the Institution, and from those of the army from 1854 to 

 1859 inclusive, were placed in his hands for reduction and discus- 

 sion. 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 Con- 



