512 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMEEICAN ACADEMY 



of the science of this country. The comprehensive plan set forth in 

 the Prospectus by which the Journal was first heralded marks the 

 sagacious foresight of its author. Sustained for so many years by his 

 untiring perseverance and unfailing hope, and in later times by the 

 editorial ability of his coadjutors and successors, it has held its position 

 as a chosen repositoi-y of American scientific thought and activity, and 

 as the faithful exponent of scientific progress in other countries. 



Of the services of this journal to American science it is not too much 

 to say, that, more than any other similar publication, it has aided and 

 stimulated our countrymen in their scientific labors, and has made their 

 names and works familiar to men of science abroad, while through the 

 variety and weight of its contributions it has not only won a high repu- 

 tation among contemporary journals, but has vindicated for our country 

 an honorable place among the communities in which science is most 

 promoted and esteemed. 



To have been instrumental towards such results is certainly no slight 

 distinction, and when we remember that the Journal was maintained 

 from the beginning at the pecuniary risk of its founder, and that its 

 publication has been for the most jiart a financial burden to him, we 

 feel that the generous devotion to science which led him to persevere, 

 in spite of these discouragements, entitles him to our lasting gratitude. 



With such various and engrossing labors as teacher, editor, lecturer, 

 and in other modes of helpful activity, it was not to be expected that 

 Professor Silliman could devote much time to original scientific inves- 

 tigation, and perhaps his peculiar gifts of temperament and intellect 

 were such as to find their most useful application in the wider and more 

 social sphere of effort in which they were so earnestly employed. 



He however found time to make a number of oi-iginal experiments 

 and observations, among which may be specially noted the application 

 of the newly invented blowpipe of his friend. Dr. Hare, to the fusion 

 of a variety of bodies which were before regarded as infusible, the dis- 

 covery of the transference of the particles of carbon from the positive 

 to the negative pole of the galvanic apparatus, and the fusion of the 

 carbon in the voltaic arc ; the two last-named facts, though long dis- 

 puted in Europe, being now generally recognized. 



In the field of scientific literature, Professor Silliman's labors, apart 

 from his contributions to the Journal, consist of a Text-Book on Chem- 

 istry, in two octavo volumes, which appeared in 1830, and the Notes 

 and Appendices which ^ added to Bakewell's Geology, republished 



