550 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



an aggravation of the evils of her lot, by securing for her a hard 

 thralldom to many masters." 



With growing civilization, on the other hand, come security and 

 confidence, and that sense of justice and honor which is the best pro- 

 tection of the weak ; and, with the increasing and ameliorating influ- 

 ences of science, a great improvement may still be looked for in the 

 condition of our race. We stand perchance upon the threshold of 

 a future, brighter than even the brightest dreams of our past ; on 

 the verge of a Utopia long deemed impossible, when the moral nature, 

 unvitiated by an erring will, shall no longer fetter the eager soul to 

 base aims and unworthy aspirations, but shall leave it to its free scope 

 and native regality of birthright and action. Then to the human race, 

 still in its vast masses so ineffably degraded, a new and more mighty 

 civilization may unlock boundless stores of knowledge and power, and 

 unseal fresh fountains of pure and unfailing enjoyment. — Chambers's 

 Journal. 



SKETCH OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN.* 



THERE is no other name so long and closely associated with the 

 history of American science as that of Silliman. The first who 

 made it illustrious was Benjamin Silliman, born in 1779, and educated 

 for a lawyer, but who entered the field of science early in the century, 

 accepting the new chair of Chemistry in Yale College in 1802. He 

 was a pioneer in the department of geology, contributing to the for- 

 mation of that science, not only by observations and explorations, but 

 ably maintaining its claims and rights when these were strenuously 

 resisted by an unenlightened public opinion. Professor Silliman also 

 rendered an incomparable service to American science by founding, in 

 1818, the " American Journal of Science and Arts," but better known, 

 both in Europe and America, as " Silliman's Journal." Of this peri- 

 odical, he was for twenty years sole, and for eight years more the 

 senior editor. After half a century of duty in the college he resigned 

 his professorship, and died in 1864. 



Benjamin Silliman, Jr., son of the preceding, and the subject of 

 the following notice, was born in New Haven, December 4, 1816, and 

 entered college in August, 1833. After graduation he was emj^loyed 

 as assistant and teacher in the departments of Chemistry, Mineralogy, 

 and Geology in Yale College, and in original studies and investiga- 

 tions in these sciences and their practical applications in the arts. He 

 became associate editor with his father, in 1838, of the "American 



* For this sketch we are indebted to the " Yale Book," published bj Henry Holt 

 &Co. 



