126 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



ment as shall prevent any injury to the interests of the Col 

 lege and of the country. 



With the greatest respect and cordial regard, I remain, 

 Rev. and dear sir, 



Very truly yours, 



B. SILLIMAN. 



At the approach of the next Commencement, still 

 persisting in his resolution to retire from his work in 

 College, he copied this letter to President "Woolsey, 

 and sent it together with the communication which 

 follows : 



TO REV. PRESIDENT WOOLSEY. 



YALE COLLEGE, July 22, 1853. 



REV. AND DEAR SIR, My views not having been 

 changed since the date of my preceding letter of September 

 21, 1852, of which a copy is annexed, it remains only 

 to request you, sir, to communicate this paper to the Cor 

 poration. In taking my leave I wish to express my high 

 respect for the Board under which I have so long acted, 

 and to record my grateful remembrance of the kind, just, 

 and liberal treatment which I have experienced at their 

 hands. This acknowledgment, alas, cannot now be made 

 to the men who, with President Dwight at their head, while 

 I was still a youth, bestowed upon me their confidence in 

 advance. That Board enrolled among its members the 

 names of great and wise and good and honored men, who 

 have all passed away, but they have been succeeded by 

 those who have worthily filled their places. In the year 

 1799, 1 was invited to instruct a class in Yale College, as 

 their tutor, and, In 1802, the responsibility was committed 

 to me of founding an extensive department of physical 

 science, then unknown in this institution, and little known 

 in this country. Of the result, it is not for me to speak. 

 Now, near the close of my labors, I look around, and almost 



