xii PREFACE. 



On pagos 50-51 is a list of authorities cited; to this Professor Coffin intended 

 to add the names of many who had aided liim by making or transmitting records 

 of observations. This is an omission that cannot now be supplied. A pencilled 

 statement records his acknowledgment of aid from Dr. Franklin B. Hough, of 

 Albany, N. Y., and grateful mention of President Cattail, and his associates in the 

 Faculty of Lafayette College, for their constant sympathy and encouragement in 

 the work ; particularly in services rendered in translations from foreign languages 

 by Prof Francis A. March, LL.D., and Prof. Augustus A. Bloombergh, Ph.D., 

 also to Prof Theodore F. Tillinghast, Mr. Thomas C. Green, of Mechanicsville, 

 N. Y., Prof J. D. Whitney, of Harvard College, the Rev. David Craft, of Wyalu- 

 sing. Pa., the Rev. John S. Woodside, of Kapurthala, India, and the Rev. Stephen 

 Bush, of Waterford, N. Y., for aid; and to Mr. Henry Mansfield, of Easton, for 

 care in computing the monsoon influences, most of which were drafted by him. 



Professor Coffin records the fact that this work lacks observations known to have 

 been made at the following places, but which he failed to secure, viz.: — 



Barbacoas, Venezuela, 1852 and 1854. 



Firmagungulum. 



Gaboon Station, Africa. 



Leon, Nicaragua, May and July, 1849. 



Manilla. 



Ponce, Porto Rico. 



Singapore. 



At the time of the death of Professor Coffin, in 1873, Series A, and the General 

 Tables, Series B, were mainly completed. Though all the pages of the latter 

 Series were numbered in manuscript, here and there were blanks left to be filled. 

 In the observations from Spain, India, and many places in Zones 10 to 18, the 

 trigonometrical work and monsoon influences remained to be computed. No Plates 

 had been prepared. 



The supply of these deficiencies was undertaken by his son and successor in the 

 College, Professor Selden J. Coffin. He devised and drew the plates, added the 

 Numerical Index to Stations found in Series A, pages 52-66, revised the entire 

 work, and read the proofs. He also prepared Series C, Velocity Tables, pages 637 

 to 654, and made the deductions connected with them. 



This work has been executed with a feeling of pious regard for the memory 

 of a venerated parent, interest in science, and a devotion which merits special 

 commendation. 



The Institution also availed itself of the meteorological knowledge and power 

 of original investigation of Dr. Alexander J. Woeikof, Secretary of the Meteoro- 

 logical Committee of the Imperial Geographical Society of Russia, during his late] 

 visit to this country, for a series of deductions and analyses from the tables and 

 charts, which the untimely death of Professor Coffin prevented his undertaking.* 

 These discussions and analyses are found on pages 623 to 714, and are wholly from 

 the pen of Dr. Woeikof, who also supplied the material in the form of " Addenda" 

 at the end of the respective zones, and carefully revised the whole work. 



