464 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [DeC. 



were affected by the judicious hints which he received from his 

 kind and sympathising teacher. 



Mr. Silliman's labors began with instruction ; but they did not 

 end there. His active and versatile disposition led him to become 

 interested in and to help forward whatever would contribute to 

 the welfare of Yale Colleo-e. When he went abroad, in 1805, to 

 fit himself for the duties of his professorship, the purchase of 

 books for the library was one of the duties with which he was 

 especially charged. He was one of the library committee until 

 his retirement. In his own departments, not only the Chemical 

 Laboratory, but also the Cabinet of Minerals, owed its existence 

 to his energy. This collection is indeed so important, that some- 

 thing more than the mere mention of it seems due. About the 

 time when Mr. Silliman was appointed a professor, the entire 

 mineralogical and geological collection of Yale College was trans- 

 ported to Philadelphia in one small box, that the specimens might 

 be named by Dr. Adam Seybert, then fresh from Werner's School 

 at Freiberg, the only man in this country who could be regarded 

 as a mineralogist scientifically trained. From this small beginning 

 grew the present cabinet. In 1810, owing to personal regard for 

 Professor Silliman, Col. George Gibbs deposited with Yale College 

 his valuable collection of minerals; and after it had remained 

 open to the public fifteen years, various friends of the college, 

 chiefly through the instrumentality of Professor Silliman, sub- 

 scribed for its purchase the sum of $20,000. Other important 

 accessions were also secured through his influence, not only from 

 college graduates and other American gentlemen, but from various 

 foreign collectors. 



The Clark telescope is another of the donations to Yale College 

 due to Professor Silliman. This excellent glass, the best in the 

 country at the time of its purchase, was the means of exciting 

 among the students of the college unusual attention to astronomi- 

 cal pursuits for many years after its reception. The liberal donor, 

 a farmer near New Haven, by this and other more important gifts, 

 placed himself foremost among all the benefactors of the college up to 

 that time, and Prof. Silliman was the medium through whom his 

 benefactions were bestowed. The Trumbull Gallery of Paintings, 

 a collection of priceless value, not only as works of art, but also 

 as illustrations of American history and biography, was secured to 

 the college through the same enlightened instrumentality. The 

 Medical Institution of Yale College and the Sheffield School of 



