26 Kansas Academy of Science. 



Professor Gregory and Dr. Thomas Hope, the discoverer of. 

 strontium. I cannot forbear from giving another quotation, 

 because it illustrates so well the ideals of chemical instruction 

 at this time. "Doctor Hope's lectures were not only learned, 

 posting up the history of discovery, and giving the facts 

 clearly and fully, but the experiments were prepared on a 

 liberal scale. They were apposite and beautiful, and so neatly 

 and skillfully performed that rarely was even a drop spilled on 

 the table. No experiment failed, except that in two instances 

 glass vessels were broken by the heat evolved in the experiment 

 — in one case by burning phosphorus and in another by sulphur 

 and iron filings combining with incandescence when gently 

 heated, but in these cases there was no fault of the experi- 

 menter; the experiment was hazardous to the vessels, and in 

 such cases, if the lecturer states the fact beforehand, he will 

 save his credit, even if the glass be shattered. Doctor Hope 

 lectured in full dress, without any protection for his clothes; 

 he held a white handkerchief in his hand and performed all 

 his experiments upon a high table, himself standing on an 

 elevated platform, and surrounded on all sides and behind by 

 his pupils. His lectures were all written out but very rarely 

 read. He was cool and lucid, but sometimes, rising above his 

 manuscript, he essayed a flight of eloquence. In these cases he 

 was not very successful." Hope was a pupil of Lavoisier and 

 Black, whom he took for his model. Black is known to us by 

 his classic research, "Experiments on Magnesia Alba," in the 

 course of which carbon dioxide was rediscovered, and by his 

 discovery of latent heat. 



Besides chemistry, Silliman listened to lectures in Edinburgh 

 on geology, mineralogy and medicine. He also during this year 

 made the acquaintance of Dalton, Davy and Wollaston. 



If time allowed it would be interesting to speak of the early 

 handicaps of Silliman at Yale, of his subterranean laboratory, 

 of his difficulties in procuring apparatus. For instance, he 

 sent to a glass factory in Connecticut, as a model, a retort, the 

 neck of which was broken from the bulb. In due time he re- 

 ceived a carefully packed shipment of retorts, the necks and 

 bulbs being placed side by side : all having been neatly cracked 

 in order to duplicate the original retort. 



For the next half century, Silliman spent a busy life as 

 teacher, investigator, public lecturer, and from 1819 editor of 

 the American Journal of Science, which he founded. Those 



