462 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [DeC. 



his work in life by attendance upon lectures in London and Edin- 

 burgh, and by observation of foreign institutions of learning ; and 

 again, near the close of his life, in 1851, when he was accompa- 

 nied by his son, and made a more extended tour of observation 

 and inquiry. Frequent journeys in his own country made him 

 acquainted personally with the institutions and the men of every 

 State, while his habits of prompt and friendly correspondence 

 perpetuated the intimacies which he formed at home and abroad. 



Without attempting a formal biography (which the late day of 

 his decease renders impossible at this time), we propose to speak 

 briefly of Professor Silliman's career as an officer of Yale College, 

 and as a man of science, and then of his personal character and 

 influence in the community. 



The Silliman family has resided in Fairfield, Conn., since the 

 early colonial days. Tradition says that Claudio Sillimandi, their 

 earliestknown ancestor, was driven, in 1517, from Lucca, Italy, to 

 Switzerland, by religious persecution. The descendants resided in 

 Berne, and afterwards in Geneva, whence they emigrated through 

 Holland to this country about the middle of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury. A worthy pastor of the name, living with his family near 

 Neufchatel, was visited by Professor Silliman in 1851. 



Ebenezer Silliman, the grandfiither of Benjamin, graduated at 

 Yale College in 1727, and Gold Selleck, the father, in 1752. The 

 latter was a brigadier-general of militia in the Revolution, and 

 was entrusted for a time with the defence of the Long Island coast. 

 In 1775 he was married to Mary, the daughter of the Rev. Joseph 

 Fish of Stonington, and the widow of the Rev. John Noyes. The 

 two children of this marriage. Gold Selleck and Benjamin, 

 became members of the same class in college, and have maintained 

 through life an intimacy peculiarly fresh and cordial. The younger 

 brother, Benjamin, was born in North Stratford, Conn., (now the 

 town of Trumbull,) August 8, 1779. The elder, who was born 

 in 1777, is still living in Brooklyn, N. Y. 



Throughout his active life, Professor Silliman has been identi- 

 fied with Yale College. He entered the institution in 1792, gra- 

 duated in 1796, became a tutor in 1799, was appointed professor 

 of chemistry and natural history in ISO-l ; and in 1853, having 

 been relieved, at his own request, from further service as an 

 instructor, he was designated, by the corporation, professor emeri- 

 tus. Thus, during a period of nearly three-quarters of a century, 

 his name has appeared as a student and a teacher successively on 



