H4 LEADING AMERICAN MEN OF SCIENCE 



please their guests, were generally conspicuous at the inns; almost 

 everywhere, when we wished it, we found a private parlour and 

 a separate table, and rarely, did we hear any profane or course 

 language, or observe any rude and boisterous deportment." 



During the second visit to Europe, just alluded to, Silliman 

 had the opportunity of meeting face to face many of the men with 

 whom, as editor of the American Journal oj Science, he had cor- 

 responded, and he was everywhere received with the considera- 

 tion which was his due. His enthusiasm in looking for the first 

 time upon Vesuvius and JEtna,, and upon the glaciers of Switzer- 

 land is charmingly recorded. It is hardly surpassed by the 

 gratification which he had in the society of Sir Charles Lyell and 

 Dr. Mantell in London, and in seeing Milne Edwards, Arago, 

 Brongniart and Cordier in Paris, and in meeting Humboldt, 

 Ritter, the Roses and other savants in Berlin. 



This man of science was an intense patriot. Born in the time 

 of the Revolution, the son of a successful leader in the colonial 

 forces, his earliest days made him familiar with the principles, 

 the methods and the men who established our national govern- 

 ment. He married into the Trumbull family preeminent not 

 only in Connecticut, but throughout the colonies, for devotion 

 to the cause of liberty, and many important papers came into 

 his possession. He was closely associated during many years 

 with Colonel Trumbull, the aide-de-camp of Washington. When 

 New Haven was in danger of attack in the War of 1812, he was 

 one of those who handled a spade in the construction of batteries 

 upon the harbor side of the New Haven bar. From his earliest 

 manhood he was keenly alive to the evils of slavery, although 

 he did not on that account turn away from friendships with men 

 in the South. As the crisis of the Civil War drew near, he was 

 outspoken for the restriction of slavery, and his support of the 

 Kansas defenders of freedom exposed him to much obloquy. 

 During the war he was an earnest promoter of the Union, 

 fearless and unfaltering. One incident during the Kansas ex- 

 citement brought him great reproach from sympathizers with 

 the South, but he was undisturbed by the contumely cast 



