SKETCH OF PROF. BENJAMIN SILLIMAN, LL.D. 263 



summing up the results of these courses, Professor Silliman expressed 

 a feeling of satisfactory assurance that he had popularized science ; 

 that at no period of his life had his efforts heen more useful, hoth to 

 his country and his family ; and that there was no part of his profes- 

 sional career which he reflected upon with more satisfaction. 



lie was accustomed to explain the success of his lectures, and the 

 uninterrupted interest they attracted, by stating that he always pre- 

 pared them " with all possible care, and arranged every experiment and 

 illustration so as to insure success. Then I could stand before the 

 largest audience without anxiety or embarrassment ; could, without 

 manuscript, clearly state and explain my subject, and, when the proof 

 became necessary, I could perform the experiments successfully and 

 even beautifully, and exhibit the specimens which some other truth 

 demanded, to insure conviction." 



In 1830 Professor Silliman made a visit of exploration to the val- 

 ley of Wyoming and its coal formations, where he examined some 

 hundred mines and localities of coal, extending through forty miles in 

 length ; in 1832-'33 he was engaged, under a commission from the 

 General Government, in a scientific examination on the subject of the 

 culture and manufacture of sugar ; and in 1836 he made a tour of in- 

 vestigation among the gold-mines of Virginia. 



In 1840 an association of geologists was formed in Philadelphia 

 for the purpose of promoting the progress of their science and its 

 applications in this country, and Professor Silliman was chosen its 

 first president. This society was in time succeeded by the " American 

 Association of Geologists and Naturalists," and the latter eventually 

 became the " American Association for the Advancement of Science." 



In 1849 Professor Silliman, having reached the age of seventy 

 years, tendered a resignation of his professorship, to take effect at the 

 end of the ensuing academic year. The corporation, only half accept- 

 ing his resignation, requested him to continue his lectures in the de- 

 partment of mineralogy and geology, should his life and health be 

 spared. Later, at the request of the corporation, he reconsidered his 

 resignation, and continued in the full occupation of his professorship 

 till 1853, when, "wishing to go out before he should be compelled by 

 infirmity, and to march out of the camp with colors flying," he retired 

 finally. "Thus," he remarks in his journal, after referring to the 

 public notices that were taken of his retirement during commence- 

 ment-week, " I have finished my regular connection with Yale College, 

 after having been almost fifty-four years an officer of the institution 

 three years a tutor, fifty-one a professor, and almost fifty a lecturer. 

 ... I seem to have attended my own academic funeral, and many to 

 be the mourners on the occasion." The corporation requested him to 

 continue as a professor emeritus, with the right to vote in the academ- 

 ical and medical faculties. His professorship was divided, and he had 

 the satisfaction of seeing his son placed in the chair of Chemistry, and 



