The tear would at times come unbidden to his eye. His correspondence with his classmates in the years immediately following graduation shows warm interest in all that concerned them. From Hudson he wrote often to Mr. Herrick, and complained much of isolation, but more especially of isolation from scientific companions and books.

In 1840 he married Miss Julia E. Upson, of Talmadge, Ohio, a lady about whom those who knew her have spoken to me only in terms of praise, and for whose memory Professor Loomis cherished a tender reverence. She died in 1854, leaving two sons. From this time Professor Loomis lived in apartments, surrounded by his books and devoted to his studies. His sons after passing their school and college days went to their own fields of work. During many years of his New Haven life he was unable to receive visitors in the evening. He made very few new friends, and one after another of his old ones passed away. To his work he was able to give undivided his time and his strength. His mind did not seem to require the excitement of social intercourse for its full and healthful activity. Isolated though he was there was in him no trace whatever of selfish or morbid feeling. In council his advice was always marked by his clear judgment of what was important, and at the same time what was practicable. Whatever he himself had the right to decide was promptly decided by a yes or a no, and few persons cared to question the finality of his decision. But when his colleagues, or others, had the right to decide he accepted their decision without questioning or subsequent murmur. Upon being told that his letters to Mr. Herrick had come to the College Library, and that he could, if he chose, examine them and see whether there were among them any which he would prefer not to leave in this quasi public place, he promptly replied: "No, I never wrote a letter which I should be ashamed to see published."

After coming to New York he had a generous income from his books, besides his salary as professor. The amount he saved from his income was carefully and prudently invested, and before his death the savings with their accumulations were a large estate, how large only he and his banker knew.

One of his college classmates told me that Mr. Loomis left college with the definitely expressed purpose that the world should be better for his living in it. The central proposition in his Inaugural Address at Hudson in 1838 was: "That it is essential to the best interests of society that there should be a certain class of men devoted exclusively to the cultivation of abstract science without any regard to its practical applications; and consequently that such men instead of being a dead weight upon society are to be ranked among the greatest benefactors of their race." He chose this for his principal work for man, and he steadily kept to the chosen work. To establish an Astronomical Observatory had been through life a cherished object. He entered into and aided heartily the plans of Mr. Winchester, both before and after Mr. Winchester asked his Trustees to transfer his magnificent endowment to the University. Professor Loomis looked forward to a large institution in the future on the observatory site. To endow this public service, after making liberal provision for his two sons, he bequeathed his estate. The income from more than $300,000 will eventually be available to continue the work of his life. With clear judgment of what was most important he limited the use of that income to the payment of salaries of persons whose time should be exclusively devoted to the making of observations for the promotion of the science of astronomy, or to the reduction of astronomical observations, and to defraying the expenses of publication. He knew that if he provided observers, other benefactors would furnish buildings, and instruments, and the costs of supervision and maintenance.

A university has an organic life, with its past and its future. The wealth of a university consists mainly in its men ;-not so much in those men who are its active members now, as in those who have lived themselves into its life in the past, and have made it a home of scholarship, of truth and of devotion to duty, a place fit for the development of the nobler elements of character. The life and work of Elias Loomis form no mean portion of the wealth of Yale University.

ALUMNI ASSOCIATIONS:* RECENT ACTION OF THE YALE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK CITY.

The growth of Associations of all kinds within the last twenty years is one of the marked features of life in the United States.

Twenty years ago the largest cities in the Union with difficulty supported a few social Clubs, which of all forms of association are the easiest to maintain. To-day prosperous Clubs are found in every city of moderate size; and, in the great centres, their rapid multiplication, the sumptuous buildings which they can afford to occupy, and the long lists of candidates, who at the doors of many of them await opportunities for admission, testify to the increasing importance with which they are everywhere regarded. Nor is the tendency less marked towards association for other purposes than mere social enjoyment. Science, literature, art, education, culture, research, pleasure, even the acquisition of money-each and all find their devotees banding together for mutual help and encouragement. Individualism wanes, societies of all kinds spring up and prosper.

Another noticeable thing at the present time is that men do not limit themselves to joining a single Club, but they join several; and wherever there is an association of those who sympathize with them in any special taste or pursuit, they recognize the value to themselves of an opportunity of meeting and coöperating with those who share with them a common interest. So the same person may belong to a Club devoted to scientific research, and to one whose members are interested in some special kind of sport; to an association for the preservation of forests and game, and to one whose attraction is that the ancestors of its members fought by the side of his ancestors in the war of the Revolution. Nor are mere geographical bonds unheeded; the New England Society, the Southern Society, the Society of the Sons of Ohio, are only examples of the wide-spread desire which men have to unite with others on every common ground.

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*YALE ALUMNI ASSOCIATIONS.-Albany;-Boston; -Buffalo ;-California ;Central New York;-Central and Western Massachusetts;-Chicago;-Cincinnati;-Cleveland ;-Colorado;-Denver;-Essex County (New Jersey); -Fairfield County (Connecticut); -Hartford;-Indianapolis;-Louisville;-Meriden;-Minneapolis:-New Haven;-New York City;-Orange (New Jersey);—Philadelphia;-Providence;-Rhode Island;-San Francisco;-South Western ;-Springfield;-St. Louis;-St. Paul;-Troy ;-Utah;-Utica;-Washington;-WilkesBarre;-Worcester;-Wyoming Valley.

The interest which man now takes in his fellow man, in all the relations of life, is a characteristic of the age. Often unrecognized, and frequently only unconsciously expressed, it is none the less real. Schemes for social improvement, for the elevation of the masses, for common development of all kinds, are the topics which everywhere enlist general interest and attention, even though they may not in all cases incite to action.

It is true that there is a lamentable failure as yet, especially among our educated men, to take a proper interest in public affairs, yet there is certainly more attention paid now to political questions that affect the national prosperity, than was the case a few years ago; and though the efforts at reform which have been thus far made have been only spasmodic, yet we may hope that this increased interest manifested by individuals is the prelude to more sustained and concerted action.

It is not strange, then, that this general movement has affected our Universities and Colleges. It led first to the establishment of Clubs and Societies of all kinds among the students themselves; and now, in all the larger cities of the Union, associations of the graduates of the different colleges have been formed. These Alumni Associations are a natural, if not a necessary, outgrowth of the rising spirit of fraternity, and of the appreciation of the duty of helpfulness. They are the outgrowth of that feeling which recognizes the sacredness of all human bonds.

This being the case, it is our special purpose-in writing at the present time-to emphasize what seems to us very important, that these Associations should respond in action to the motive which gave them existence. If they do this, they can accomplish much for their alma mater, and for the cause of the higher education ; since it is more than the work of isolated individuals; those who thus recognize this duty are associated with a great number of others for the special purpose of united action.

Now there are, as we understand, in different parts of the United States, between thirty and forty Associations of the Yale alumni. Some of them, like that of Fairfield County (Connecticut), are regularly incorporated. A glance at the constitutions of these various Associations shows that the professed object of every one of them is the performance of the very duty, of which we have just spoken. For instance, the object of the Chicago Association, according to Article II. of its constitution, is "the promotion of the interests of Yale College." The object of the

Fairfield County Association (Art. II.) is "the furtherance of the cause of education in connection with Yale University, including the support and maintenance, if funds be provided for that purpose, of scholarships in the University and in preparatory schools, and in general to promote the advancement of the interests of said University, or of any one or more of its departments." The object of the Association of New York City (Art. I.) is "to promote the interests of the University."

It is encouraging to find that the different Associations all over the country are beginning to show their interest by something more than words-by appropriate action. The Fairfield Association has taken a leading part in the establishment of the Department of Music, which has been so happily inaugurated during the present year, and is working with the energy which characterizes its members in the matter of the better endowment of the Medical School.

The New York City Association in 1886 placed upon its records the following standing order:

"Resolved, That the Executive Committee determine and report to the May meeting of each year, what amount of the funds of the Association may properly be appropriated and paid over for the uses of the University, and that the adoption of this resolution be printed among the standing orders of the Association." In 1889, and again in 1890, it paid over to the treasurer of the University, for the general purposes of the institution, the sum of $500, and it is expected that this contribution will be regularly continued.

A University Fund has also, within the past month, been established by the New York City Association for the receipt of contributions, large or small, which are also to be applied for the general purposes of the University.

But these are only beginnings. The practice of continual and substantial recognition of the needs of the University, and the exhibition of a desire among the Alumni to add to its facilities and means of usefulness, it is to be hoped will become more general and be considered more binding.

The promotion of social feeling, the revival and maintenance of college friendships, the helpfulness extended to younger graduates as they pass out into life-all these are worthy objects of association-but they must not obscure the obligation which lies at the foundation of the common tie. The deep debt of grati