EN 



COFFIN, JAMES II. 



COINS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



COFFIN 1 , JAMM HBXBT, LL. D., an Ameri- 

 can scientist, meteorologist, and mathemati- 

 cian, born in Williamsbnrg, Mass., September 

 6, 180; died in East l.ruary ti, 1878. 



lie received his early training t T college from 

 Ber. MOM* Hall.- k. of I'l.un:;, H. Mass. Ho 

 entered Amherst College in 1824, and gradu- 

 ated with distinction in 1828. After receiving 

 his degree he continued to teach a private 

 school in Berkshire County, which he had 

 taught daring a considerable part of the last 

 two years of his college coarse. In Septem- 

 ber, 1829, he established in Greenfield the 

 Fellenberg Academy, the first manual-labor 

 school incorporated in New England, and 

 conducted it until March, 1837. While there, 

 he published his first book, a volume of fifty- 

 two pages, on " Hook-Keeping by Single and 

 Doable Entry." After teaching a few years in 

 Ogdensbarg Academy, N. Y., lie was appoint- 

 ed tutor in Williams College in 1840. While 

 in this position, he published a treatise on 

 "Solar and Lunar Eclipses, with Tables," which 

 was extensively used. During the same peri- 

 o.l. he advised and superintended the building 

 of the (ireylock Observatory on Saddle Moun- 

 tain, in which he placed the first combined, 

 self- registering instrument ever constructed 

 for determining the direction, velocity, and 

 moisture of winds. An improved instrument, 

 fur the same purpose, he presented many 

 years later to the Emperor of Brazil. On 

 severing his connection with William* College 

 in 1813, he became Principal of Nor walk 

 Academy, Conn., and remained there until 

 September, 1846, when he was elected Pro- 

 fessor of Mathematics in Lafayette College, 

 Easton, Pa., and held that position until his 

 death. As Professor of Mathematics at La- 

 fayette, Dr. Coffin won much celebrity, but his 

 name will, perhaps, bo more widely known 

 throughout the country as a contributor to 

 the reports of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 and for his investigations on the subjects of 

 winds and atmospheric changes. In this 

 field he was a pioneer. For thirty years ho 

 pnrnued his investigations with an energy 

 which never flagged, and succeeded in 

 (ring a large mass of valuable and interesting 

 information '>n the subject by corn-spoi^: 

 with all parts of the world. At the college, 

 -imenu of the most delicate and accurate 

 construction measured the force and direction 

 of the current* of air. The investigations of 

 sach a mind as Professor Coffin's, carried on 

 with such vigor and constancy throughout so 

 long a scries of years, could not bat result in 

 the collection of an immense amount of new 

 information. In 1851 the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution published a large quarto volume of 

 or Coffin's, on "The Winds of the 

 Northern IK-mispherc." For some years he 

 had been engaged on another work, on " The 

 Winds of the (ilobe." which at the time of 

 his death was nearly ready for publication. 

 He also published a treatise on " The Conic 



Sections," and a pamphlet on " The Meteoric 

 Hall of 1870." The merits and learning 

 of Dr. Coffin were not unrecognized. He was 

 one of the first elected members of the Na- 

 tional Academy of Science, and was a promi- 

 nent member of the American Association for 

 t lie Advancement of Silence. In 1859 he re- 

 ceived the degree of LL. D., from Hi. 

 College. He was appointed in 1S72, by the 

 t'nited States Government, in conjunction 

 with Prof. Stephen Alexander, of Princeton, 

 to represent the United States, as to mathe- 

 matical and astronomical instruments, at the 

 World's Exposition at Vienna. Through- 

 out the community Dr. Coffin was known as 

 a remarkably conscientious man and a sincere 

 and devout Christian. At an early age ho 

 mode a profession of religion, and was for 

 many years a ruling elder in the Bminerd 

 Presbyterian I'hnrcii at Easton. 



COINS OF TIIK rxrn-:i> STATES. ' 



were passed at the third session of the Forty- 

 second Congress declaring what shall be here- 

 after the standard denominations of the coins 

 of the United States. 



The standard for both gold and silver , 

 shall be such that of one thousand parts !._.- 

 weight nine hundred shall be of pure metal 

 and one hundred of alloy ; and the alloy of 

 the silver coins shall be of copper, and the 

 alloy of the gold coins shall be of copper, or 

 of copper and silver; but the silver shall in 

 no case exceed one-tenth of the whole alloy. 



The gold coins of the United States shall be 

 a one-dollar piece, which, at the standard 

 weight of twenty -five and eight-tenths Drains, 

 shall be the unit of value; a quarter-eagle, or 

 two-and-a-half dollar piece; a three-dollar 

 piece; a half-eagle, or five-dollar piece; an 

 eagle, or ten-dollar piece ; and a double-, 

 or twenty-dollar piece. And the standard 

 weight of the gold dollar shall be twenty-live 

 and eight-tenths grains; of the quarter-, 

 or two-and-a-half dollar piece, sixty-ton'- 

 a half grains; of the three-dollar piece, se\ 

 seven and four-tenths grains; of the hall'-. 

 or five-dollar piece, one hundred and tu 

 nine grains; of the eagle, or ten-dollar [ 

 two hundred and fifty-eight grains; of the 

 double-eagle, or twenty-dollar piece, live hun- 

 dred and sixteen grains; which coins shall be 

 a legal tender in all payments at their nominal 

 value when not below the standard weight 

 and limit of tolerance provided by the law for 

 the single piece; and, when reduced in weight 

 below said standard and tolerance, shall lie a 

 legal tender at valuation in proportion to their 

 ' weight; an<: any gold coin of the 

 United Stat.-, if reduced in weight by natural 

 abrasion not more than one-half of one per 

 centum below the standard weight prescribed 

 by law, after a < -inflation of twenty years, as 

 shown by its date of coinage, and at a ratable 

 proportion for any period less than tv 

 years, shall be received at their nominal value 

 by the United States Treasury and its offices, 



