THE SC1ENTI,ST. 
119 
For the Scientist. 
Elliott Cones, Scientist. 
The subject of this sketch is one of 
the few men who have become famous 
both in physical aucl in psychical science. 
He has long been recot^iiized as one of the 
leading naturalists of America, and of 
late years has acquired equal distinction 
as a philosopher. 
Dr. Coues was born in Portsmouth, N". 
H.,Sept. 9, 1842, and is the son of 
Samuel Elliot Coues and Charlotte Haven 
Ladd Cones. His father was in business 
in early life with Ichabod Goodwin (af- 
terward Governor of New Hampshire,) 
and later the author of several scientific 
treatises which anticipated some of the 
more modern views of physics, astrono- 
my and geology: so that young Coues 
would seem to have inherited his bent 
of mind toward study and research. His 
elder half-brother is Dr. Samuel Frank- 
lin Coues, Medical I»irector, United 
States Navy . There are known no other 
male adults of the name, which is of 
Norman-French origin. Dr.. Coues's 
fci^ther was a friend, though at one time 
the political opponent, of Franklin 
Pierce; and early in the Presidency of 
the later received from him an ap])oint- 
ment in the U. S. Patent Office, whjcli 
lie held nearly to his death in July, 18G7, 
His mother is still living. The family 
moved to Washingtoji in J85.>, and Dr. 
Ooues has always beiMi a resident of that 
city, excepting during the years he 
served in the West and South as an Arnjy 
Officer or eng^sged in scientific explora- 
tions. As a boy he was educated under 
Jesuit infiuences at the Seminary now 
known as Gonznga College. In 1S57 he 
entered a Baptist College (now Columbi- 
an UniversitjO, wliei-e he graduated in 
1861 in the Academic depai'tmejit and in 
1863 in the Medical department of that 
institution. To the degrees of A. B., A. 
M., Ph. D., and M. D., conferred by this 
College, his riper scholarship has added 
titles enough to fill a page from learned 
Societies all over the world. 
While a college lad Coues was chiefly 
distinguished for cutting recitations and 
guying the professors. His taste for 
natural history developed early in an 
enthusiastic devotion to ornithology, and 
before he graduated he was sent by the 
Smithsonian Institution to colle<-t birds 
in Labrador. Among his earliest writ- 
ings are the account of this trip, and a 
treatise on the birds of the District of 
Columbia, both published in 1861. The 
authorship of the latter was shared with 
a fellow-student. Dr. D. W. Prentiss 
(now one of the leading practitioners of 
Washington) ; and both papers secured 
public recognition in England as well as 
in this country, thus making a begin- 
ning of his literary reputation. 
While yet a medical student, Dr. Coues 
was enlisted by Secretaiy Stanton as 
Medical Cadet, U. S. Army, and served 
a year in one of the hospitals in Wash- 
ington. On graduating in medicine in 
1863 he was appointed b}^ Surgeon-Gen- 
eral Hammond for a year Acting Assist- 
