sufRcient funds have been collected, it is proposed to establish a polytechnic school. The building with its improvements has cost thus far nearlv $750,000. It has an endowment of $200,000 for the support of the free reading-room and library. The annual expense of the schools varies from 150,000 to $60,000, and is derived from the rents of such portions of the edifice as are used for busi- ness purposes. Mr. Cooper devoted much careful thought and study to questions of finance and good government. He became active in the greenback inovement, and published several political pam- phlets on the subject of the currency. In 1876 he was nominated by the national independent party as their candidate for president, and in the elec- tion that followed received nearly 100,000 votes. In all affairs concerning the advancement and wel- fare of New York city Mr. Cooper was prominent. No public gathering seemed complete without his well-known presence on the platform. He was a regular attendant of the Unitarian church, and liberal in his donations to charitable institutions, to many of which he lield the relation of trustee. His various addresses and speeches were collected in a volume entitled " Ideas for a Science of Good (Government, in Addresses, Letters, and Articles on a Strictly National Currency, Tariff, and Civil Service" (New York, 1883).—" His son, Edward, merchant, b. in New York city, 26 Oct., 1824. He was educated in public schools and then in Colum- bia, but left college without completing the course, and received the honorary degree of A. M. in 1845. Afterward he spent some time in travel abroad, and on his return to the United States became, with his college friend and brother-in-law, Abram S. Hewitt, a member of the firm of Cooper, Hewitt & Co. Gradually he was associated with his father in his various enterprises, and much of the active management of affairs fell to him. The success of the Trenton iron-works and of the New Jersey iron- and steel-works is largely due to his painstaking and careful study of the subject. Long experience as an iron-master has made him a practical and scientific metallurgical engineer. Mr. Cooper has also been prominent as a democrat in New York local politics, and was mayor from 1879 till 1881. He was also an active member of the committee of seventy, through whose efforts the Tweed ring was overthrown. In national poli- tics he has served as a delegate to the Charleston convention of 1860, and to the St. Louis conven- tion of 1876. He is a trustee of the Cooper imion, and is a member of various corporations. — Peter Cooper's nephew, James Campbell, mineralogist, b. in Harford county, near Baltimore, Md., 16 June, 1832, a son of James Cooper, received a limited education in the public schools of Balti- more, and for many years has been connected with the development of western railways, hold- ing various offices. Mr. Cooper has taken great in- terest in the study of geology and mineralogy, and has collected, located, and named fully 50,000 speci- mens of minerals, including a collection of 9,000 specimens that he presented the University of Kan- sas. He has added much to the knowledge of the mineral resources of the United States, and has con- tributed extensively to newspapers and periodical literature concerning his discoveries. Mr. Cooper is a member of several scientific associations.
COOPER, Philip H., naval officer, b. in New
York, 5 Aug., 1844. He was graduated at the U. S.
naval academy in 1863, when he was promoted to
ensign and attached to the steam sloop " Ticon-
deroga " in the North Atlantic blockading squad-
ron, and was present at both attacks on Fort
Fisher. In 1865 he was made mastei', and in 1866
lieutenant, serving, meanwhile, until 1868 on the
slod]) " Shenandoah," in the Asiatic squadron. He
received his commission as lieutenant-commander
in 1868, and was assigned to duty at the U. S. naval
academy. Later he was attached to the " Plym-
outh," on the European station, and afterward
was on duty at the Naval academy. He was made
commander in 1879, and for several years employed
at the bureau of navigation in Washington, alter
which he commanded the " Swatara " in the Asiatic
squadron. In 1886 he was made commandant of
the Norfolk navy-yard.
COOPER, Samuel, soldier, b. in Haekensack,
N. J., 12 June, 1798; d. in Cameron, Va., 3 Dec,
1876. His father, of the same name, served during
the Revolutionary war, and fought in the battles
of Lexington, Bunker Hill, Monmouth, and Ger-
mantown. At the close of the war, having attained
the rank of major, he settled in Dutchess county,
where he married Miss Mary Horton. He was
graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1815,
and promoted to second lieutenant in the artillery.
His services were retained on the reorganization
of the army after the war of 1812, and he served
on garrison duty and in Washington for several
years, meanwhile he had been promoted to first
lieutenant. From 1828 till 1836 he was aide-de-
camp to Gen. Alexander Macomb, becoming cap-
tain in June, 1836, and until 1841 was on staff
duty at army head-quarters as assistant adjutant
general. During the Florida war he was chief of
staff to Col. William J. Worth. He remained on
special duty in the war department in Washington
from 1842 till 1852, was brevetted colonel for meri-
torious conduct in the prosecution of his duties in
connection with tlie Mexican war, and then, until
1861, was adjutant-general of the U. S. army, with
the rank of colonel of the staff, dating from 1852.
For a short time during this period he was secre-
tary of war ad interim. In March, 1861, he re-
signed his commission and offered his services to
the seceding states. He was appointed adjutant
and inspector-general of the Confederate army, of
which he was the ranking officer, standing first on
the list of generals. In 1827 he married a grand-
daughter of George Mason, of Gunston Hall, Cler-
mont, Fairfax co., Va., and subsequent to the civil
war, lived in retirement at his country seat near
Alexandria, Va. He was the author of " A Con-
cise System of Instructions and Regulations for
the Militia and Volunteers of the United States "
(Philadelphia, 1836).
COOPER, Thomas, scientist, b. in London,
England, 22 Oct., 1759; d. in Columbia, S. C., 11
May, 1840. He was educated at Oxford, and then
studied law, devoting at the same time considerable
attention to medicine and the natural sciences.
After being admitted to the bar he travelled a
circuit for a few years, but took an active part in the
politics of the time, and was sent with James Watt,
the inventor, by the democratic clubs of England
to those of France, where his sympathies were
with the Girondists. This course called out severe
censure from Edmund Burke in the house of
commons, to which Cooper replied with a violent
pamphlet. Its circulation was prohibited among the
lower classes by the attorney-general, although no
exception was made to its appearance in expensive
form. While in France he studied chemistry and
learned the process of obtaining chlorine from sea-salt,
and this knowledge he tried to apply on his
return to England by becoming a bleacher and a
calico-printer, but was unsuccessful. In 1795 he
followed his friend, Dr. Joseph Priestley, to the
