WELLS, Walter, author, born in Salisbury, New Hampshire, in November, 1830; died in Portland, Maine, 21 April, 1881. He was graduated at Bowdoin in 1852, and then taught in the high-school at Augusta, Maine, for several years. Subsequently he lectured on scientific subjects, and was connected with the Western university of Pennsylvania, where he was invited to take charge of the chair of physical geography in the scientific department. In 1867 he was appointed to the hydrographic survey of Maine, and he published in connection with that work "The Water-Power of Maine" (Augusta, 1869). Subsequently he became connected with the Fairbanks scale company, and then was in the employ of various railroads. He was appointed in 1869 secretary of the National association of cotton manufacturers and planters in Boston, and made an exhaustive report on the tariff in relation to the growth and manufacture of cotton in this country. Mr. Wells also contributed papers to the periodical press, and prepared an elementary physical geography. He was engaged in literary work at the time of his death.