was unfortunate that we had not a boat that was capable of standing a rougher sea, as that is the very time when the required information would be most valuable. The highest velocity of the wind we were able to operate in was 25 miles per hour.

While the currents seem to be under the influence of the winds to some extent, there is considerable lack of uniformity, particularly at different stations; for instance, the currents in the Humber Bay did not conform to the same general principle as at other stations; also, the currents at the Eastern Gap seemed to be different from those to the east and west of it. But one thing seems to be pretty clearly proved, that the general direction of the currents is paralled to the coast line from Victoria Park to the western extremity of the Island, that is N.E. and S.W. nearly. Thus North East, East, and South East winds pretty generally produce currents flowing South West, while South, South West, and West winds give North Easterly currents, and North and North West winds give rise to variable currents; thus on seven occasions when the wind was from the North and North West the resulting currents were two North East, three South West, and two South East. Also a South West wind would produce a North East current south of the Island, and a North West one west of the Island. The phenomenon of the current being in a contrary direction to the wind was more marked in Humber Bay than to the south of the Island; although on one occasion, on the 17th of July, we put out, near Victoria Park, first a 30 feet float, second a surface float without flag or drag, a mere tin can with an iron rod, four feet in length, attached, and third an empty tin can; the wind was fresh from the East; the first and second floats went dead against the wind, while the empty can was driven along before the wind on the tops of the waves. Close in shore we sometimes observed the current in an opposite direction to that farther out.

Instances of counter under-currents were obtained from Mr. J. Raynor and Mr. J. G. Rosesseau, fishermen at Niagara. They informed us that when they had their nets out in deep water during the prevalence of strong easterly winds, they would find in drawing in the nets that any floating submerged leaves or weeds would be caught on the opposite side of the net, showing that the under-current was from the West. This would indicate that the waters, being driven to the West, pile up at Burlington Beach and the head of the water thus raised forces a portion of the water back as an under-current. This would be more noticeable in Humber Bay if it were more closed in by Mimico point. Instead of giving the reverse undercurrent close in by the shore, it would probably be found out in a couple of hundred feet or so of water.

We made a trip to the mouth of the Niagara river to ascertain if

possible how far the current of the river could be traced across the lake. We put out a number of floats inside the bar and in the mouth of the river, but unfortunately we gave the floats too much line and most of them grounded on the bar; one or two that got over safely took an easterly direction, There is a distinct color line dividing the water inside the bar from that outside, and the difference in temperature is very marked. In the river, both at the surface and at the bottom the temperature was as high as 69° or 70°, while outside, at the depth of 400 feet, we found the water at its maximum density or 39'5° Fh. This accounts for the coolness of our water supply in Toronto; although it primarily comes through the Niagara river and is heated up to the point already indicated, before it reaches us it has to come over that cold sub-stratum of water, at least for thirty miles; so that at the intake in the month of July, we found the temperature as low as 43°; in October it was observed to be the same, and only slightly higher in August and September.

As the practical outcome of these investigations is to ascertain with what degree of safety sewage may be deposited in the lake, it becomes necessary to consider another factor that enters into the question, viz., the effect of diffusion upon sewage. The share of the work, in these investigations, carried out under the superintendence of Dr. Mackenzie, on behalf of the Provincial Board of Health, will afford material aid in solving this problem; the substance of which will be found in the following quotation from Mr. Rust's report. "To ascertain, if possible, from actual tests, how rapidly diffusion and oxidation take place, Mr. Mackenzie, on the 16th October, took samples of water, in a direct line from the mouth of the intake to the outlet of Garrison Creek sewer, which discharges 400,000 cubic feet, per day. I attach a copy of the results, by which you will see that the sample taken within a little over half a mile of the mouth of the sewer came within the limits of first-class water; the wind on the occasion was from the North, which would tend to carry the sewage direct to the intake. This shows very favorable results, and tends to prove that there will be no possible danger of contaminating the water supply if the sewage be discharged into the lake at a distance of six miles east of the intake. When the population of the city exceeds 500,000, and it is found that there is the slightest danger to the water supply, precipitation works could be erected and the sewage treated by chemical means." The copy of the schedule referred to shows that a sample of water taken near the mouth of the sewer showed a degree of organic impurity by Muter's scale of 2'44 per million, while first class water should not show above 25. It also showed as high as 40,000 bacteria per cubic centimetre; yet we find that within half a mile, this water is raised to a standard of first class purity. We can then judge of

the immunity from danger there would be if the sewage outlet were removed to a distance of six miles.

I make one further quotation from Mr. Rust's report. "I feel satisfied from the results of the experiments that the currents are caused by the winds. They change direction as the wind changes, although sometimes after a sudden shifting of the wind, the upper and lower currents have sometimes different directions. By the attached tables you will see that during this fall there has been a great number of days in which the wind blew from an easterly direction, and to this is to be accounted the large percentage of floats which drifted in the direction of the intake pipe. From the Observatory reports we find that the prevailing winds are from a westerly direction. The Hon. W. McAlpine and Messrs Hering and Gray, in their reports on the Trunk Sewer, considered that. the sewage could safely be discharged into the lake east of the intake pipe."

With the above views I entirely agree and am of the opinion that the mouth of the intake pipe is in about the best possible position, as it is the nearest point to the shore where a depth of seventy feet of water can be reached; and double that depth is found within a few hundred yards to the South. The force of this will be seen when you refer back to that part of my paper where I drew your attention to the fact that the prevailing direction of the currents was about parallel with the coast line. Now as the mouth of the intake is less than half a mile from the shore of the island, it stands to reason that if we take our outlet pipe a mile from the shore line we get our sewage a half a mile outside of the range of the inlet pipe. Herein, I believe, is perfect safety.

And when we consider the immense advantage it will be to us to get clean rid of the whole foul mass of sewage without creating plague spots in our fair city, in the shape of sewage farms or what is worse, precipitating works without regard to the enormous cost of such works we are constrained to say, "'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished."

There is yet required to be made a careful and thorough investigation into the extent to which diffusion takes place in large bodies of water and its effects on sewage. The Council, on recommendation of last year's Trunk Sewer Committee, are partly pledged to undertake that work this year.

In conclusion I beg to say, that as the Institute was instrumental in having these valuable preliminary investigations made by the Council, I hope the members of the Institute, individually, as well as collectively, will continue to use their influence to help on the great work of a perfect system of sewage disposal, for which Toronto is languishing.

THE PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE OF LIEUT.-COL.
COFFIN, DURING THE REBELLION OF 1837.

BY H. R. FAIKCLOUGH, M.A.

(Read 12th March, 1892.)

It has been my great privilege to read a packet of letters written by the late Lieut-Col. Coffin. Though I never knew or even saw the writer, still so vividly does the man's noble personality appear between the lines he penned, that I feel drawn towards him as to a friend, the touch of whose vanished hand, and the sound of whose voice, now still, the pages perused have in no slight measure supplied. The individuality of the writer I have been able to picture to myself still more fully, through the many conversations I have had with several of his intimate friends and relatives, particularly one, the lady to whom a number of the letters before me are addressed. It is because Col. Coffin was so well known and highly esteemed in Canadian public life, and because his letters deal with public events at an extremely critical period of our national history, that I have taken the liberty of bringing this interesting correspondence before the notice of the Institute.

Col. Coffin came of a fine old stock. Burke, in his "Colonial Gentry," speaking of the Coffin family says that "Sir Richard Coffin, Knight, accompanied William the Conqueror from Normandy to England in the year 1066, and the manor of Alwington, Co. Devon, was assigned to him."

Though, on the face of it, this statement is absurd, still it indicates the

In

*William Foster Coffin was born at Bath, Somerset, England, in 1808. In 1813 came with his father to Canada, but returned to England, 1815. Entered Eton College, 1817. Won an Eton Postmastership at Merton College, Oxford. Returned to Canada. 1830. In 1835 was called to the Quebec bar. In 1838 was appointed Assistant Civil Secretary, and actively assisted Sir John Colborne in allaying civil strife. In 1839 was appointed Stipendiary Magistrate at Ste. Marie, a disaffected district, and in 1840 Commissioner for Police in Lower Canada. 1842 became Joint Sheriff for District of Montreal, but resigned this position in 1851. In 1856 was made Manager of Ordnance and Admiralty lands, a position which he held until his death in 1878. Was offered but declined the Lieut. -Governorship of Manitoba. Acted on numerous government commissions. Raised and commanded the Montreal Field Battery, 1855, and was promoted to the rank of Lieut. -Colonel. Was a member of the Royal Institution and a Governor of McGill College. His published literary work includes a "History of the War of 1812 (Montreal 1864) and "Thoughts on Defence from a Canadian Point of View" (Montreal 1870) He married a daughter of Deputy Commissary-General Clarke, a near relative of Lord Lyndhurst.

antiquity and nobility of the family. The ancestral home of the Coffin's is Devonshire-a county which, as readers of Kingsley's "Westward Ho!" are well aware, has given England so many of her sailors and soldiers.

In the middle of the last century, some members of this family were settled in Boston, Mass. On the breaking out of the Revolutionary War they refused to desert the old flag, and John Coffin, Col. Coffin's grandfather, with nine children went to Quebec, where he distinguished himself during the siege of 1775. On the 31st Dec. in that year he kept the guard at Près de Ville under arms, and with great coolness, at the critical moment directed Capt. Barnsfare's fire upon the invading forces. "To him," thus writes General Sir Guy Carleton, afterwards Lord Dorchester, "with the assistance of Barnsfare, I attribute the repulse of the rebels on that side of Quebec, where Mr. Montgomery attacked in person."

Col. Coffin's grandfather had six sons and four daughters. One of the former, Francis, became an admiral in the British navy; another, Nathaniel, died Adjutant-General of Militia of Upper Canada; another, the Hon. Thomas Coffin, was a member of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada. The second son, William, was a captain in H. M. 15th Regiment of Infantry, and at the time of his death, in 1835, had Brevet Major rank. He married a Mrs. Austin, whose maiden name was Foster, and it is their son, William Foster Coffin, who wrote the letters that are the subject of this paper.†

Before I leave the Coffin family, it may be well to shew briefly who the relatives are to whom these letters are directed, and to whom Col. Coffin was so warmly attached.

A brother of John Coffin, who also lived in Boston, Mass., but at the time of the Revolution made England his home, had three sons, John, Isaac, and Nathaniel. Isaac became an admiral in the British navy and for his most distinguished services was created a baronet, and given the Magdalen Islands. John, afterwards Gen. John Coffin, settled in New Brunswick. He had a family of eight, three sons and five daughters. Two of the sons became admirals in the navy, the other a general in the artillery. Of the daughters, Anne, married Major, afterwards Sir Thomas, Pearson, well known for the part he took in Canada in the war of 1812, while Mary married Charles Ogden, Solicitor-General, afterwards Attorney-General, of Lower Canada. The eldest daughter, Carolina, married the Hon. Charles William Grant, afterwards Baron de Longueuil, son of the Baroness de Longueuil in her own right and Captain

+Of the daughters of John Coffin, the third, Margaret, married her cousin, Lieut.-Gen. Sir Roger H. Sheaffe, Bart., who fought at Queenston Heights, and on the death of Gen. Brock took command and completed the victory.