as recommended by Dr. Parkes, may, at the same time, be given. When he can swallow, the patient should be encouraged to drink freely, and, if vomiting follows, so much the better, as this tends to relieve the lungs, which are always greatly congested. Other measures of treatment, and the management of after-consequences, may be most safely left in the hands of the physician.
After what has been said, the means to be adopted for the avoidance of sunstroke will readily suggest themselves. Great care must be taken to preserve intact the function of the skin, and nothing is better for this than frequent bathing, and friction of the surface. Hard labor, in a close, highly-heated atmosphere, or during extreme hot weather, in the sun, should be carefully shunned, and the use of spirits, if previously indulged in, entirely discontinued. The dress should be such as will permit free loss of heat, preferably linen, and on no account should it be so close fitting as to hinder the motions of the chest, neck, or head. A light hat, permitting free circulation of air about the top of the head, is very useful. English troops in India wear light wicker-helmets made of bamboo, and covered with cotton. These permit thorough ventilation of the head, and, according to Dr. Parkes, have diminished the frequency of sunstroke.
| SKETCH OF PROFESSOR COFFIN. |
FROM Sir Richard Coffin, Knight, who accompanied William the Conqueror to England in 1066, springs the genealogical tree that bears the name of Tristram Coffin, the pioneer owner of the island of Nantucket, whose American descendants have been engaged, to a large extent, in navigation. Of these, and fifth in line of descent from Tristram, is the subject of this sketch.
Prof. James Henry Coffin, LL.D., was born in Williamsburg, Mass., on the 6th day of September, 1806. He was, therefore, sixty-six years, old at the time of his decease, which occurred February 6, 1873, at Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., where he had long filled the professorship of Mathematics and Astronomy. He graduated at Amherst College in 1828, and the year following established, at Greenfield, Mass., the Fellenberg Manual Labor Institution, which for eight years continued to be one of the rarely successful instances of this system in our country. He subsequently became the Principal of the Ogdensburg (N.Y.) Academy, and, in 1839, a member of the Faculty of Williams College. In 1846 he became Professor of Mathematics in Lafayette College. In the interests of this institution he labored zealously till the close of his life, being rewarded by seeing it rise to its present high rank among our colleges.
