524 BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



to men of science abroad. Into the pleasant home which his father 

 had established at New Haven, Beiijamiu Silliman, Jr. was born, 

 December 4, 1816. 



His mother was the daughter of Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of 

 Connecticut from 1798 to 180'J. TIuh favored in his parentage, the 

 son breathed from the first the scientific atmosphere which surrounded 

 the father ; and it is not surprising that he rapidly acquired a laige 

 measure of his father's enthusiasm and a strong inclination to scien- 

 tific pursuits. Graduated at Yale College with the distinguished 

 class of 1837, he immediately became his father's assistant, and the 

 College Laboratory gave him in this position opportunities for experi- 

 ment and study of which he assiduously availed himself. By the 

 year 1842 he had, without outside help, of which the coiuitry afforded 

 then but little, acquired sufficient knowledge of geneial and ana- 

 lytical chemistry and mineralogy to enable him to instruct others 

 on those subjects, and he received a few pupils in the old Laboratory 

 of the College, — in what would now be called very narrow quarters- 

 One of the earliest of these was Mr. John P. Norton, who studied with 

 him in 1842-43. Another was Mr. T. Sterry Hunt, who began his 

 studies with Mr. Silliman in 1845. In 184G, a memorial to the Cor- 

 poration of Yale College by himself, adopted and seconded by his 

 father, urging the official recognition and organization of a new de- 

 partment of advanced science, led to the establishment of the " Depart- 

 ment of Philosoi)liy and the Arts." The School of Applied Chemistry 

 was organized under this department, and placed in the charge of Mr. 

 Silliman, as Professor of Chemistry as applied to the Arts, and Mr. 

 John P. Norton, as Professor of Agricultural Chemistry. This School 

 was successful from the beginning, and, if not the first, was one of the 

 first schools of practical science connected with any American college. 

 From this beginning grew the Yale Scientific School, which, after the 

 generous gifts of Mr. Sheffield, expanded into the world-renowned 

 Sheffield Scientific School. 



Among the six students of the first year after the new organization 

 were three, G. J. Brush, S. W. Johnson, and William II. Brewer, 

 who subsequently became distinguished Professors in the Sheffield 

 Scientific School. 



For thus founding and successfully conducting through the days of 

 small beginnings one of the first schools of experimental and ajiplied 

 science in the United States, Professor Silliman is deserving of the 

 highest praise. And this was unquestionably the most important 

 achievement of his life. 



