LOOMIS, ELIAS, LL.D., b. in Connecticut in 1811, educated at Yale college, graduat ing in 1830; was tutor there for three years, 1833-36; spent the next year in scieutific investigation in Paris, where he made a careful study of astronomy, meteorology, and higher mathematics; on his return was appointed professor of natural philosophy in the Western Reserve college, Ohio; from 1844 to 1860 held shnilar positions in Columbia college and the University of New York, and in the latter year returned to New Haven, where he has since resided, holding the professorship of natural philosophy formerly occupied by prof. Olmsted, in Yale, and pursuing his investigations in scientific and mathematical branches. He has published—besides many papers in the American Jour nal of Science, memoirs of his researches, in the Ransactions of the Am,erican Philoso vhical Society, and other miscellaneous writings—a very complete set of text-books on mathematics, including treatises on arithmetic, algebra, elements of geometry and conic sections, analytical geometry and calculus, plane and spherical trigonometry, and tables of logarithms; also, a treatise on astronomy and one on meteorolou. All of these are
in constant use in schools and colleges throughout the country, and are marked by the accuracy and precision which are characteristic of the author personally. He has also published a book of family genealogy, The Descendants of Joseph Loomis (1870). Both as an instructor and writer, prof. Loomis is remarkable for his clearness and directness in expression, and his contributions to the cause of education have not been confined to formulating truths already known, as he has made many important scientific discoveries and advanced many new theories.