THE YALE FACULTY IN 1850 



yard chopping wood for exercise. Silliman and Kingsley 

 had been the colleagues of Day during the first half of 

 the century, and to these three men, with the Rev. 

 President Timothy Dwight, the first, the growth of the 

 college, in reputation and in numbers, from 1796 to 1846 

 was largely due. 



Among his associates, Silliman was the scientific chief. 

 As a teacher he was always acceptable ; as a public lec- 

 turer he had no superior; as editor of an important 

 journal he had an international reputation. His man- 

 ners were courtly, his speech fluent, his sympathies 

 active. His tall figure, dignified bearing, and animated 

 countenance attracted attention in every assembly. 

 Many stories are extant of his humor and wit; many 

 more of his kindness and good-will. All this and much 

 more may be gathered from the memoir of Benjamin 

 Silliman, by Professor George P. Fisher. 



The chair of natural philosophy and astronomy was 

 held by Professor Denison Olmsted, well known to this 

 day as the author of widely read text-books, and entitled 

 to a more enduring fame as an observer and student of 

 meteoric phenomena. He was the inspirer of a group of 

 observers Ebenezer Porter Mason, Edward C. Herrick, 

 Alexander C. Twining, and Hubert A. Newton among 

 the number who helped to discover the laws that govern 

 the showers of shooting stars, previously so mysterious. 

 Newton, the most distinguished of the four, became 

 Professor of Mathematics not long after Dana's accession 

 to the faculty. The chair of mathematics was previously 

 held (until 1853) by Anthony D. Stanley, a man of rare 

 abilities and of excessive modesty, who had graduated 

 three years earlier than Dana. He published but little, 

 and his name has never appeared on the roll of fame but 

 it is well worthy of remembrance in the annals of Yale. 



Professor William D. Whitney, the philologist, whom 

 the world of scholars has honored, came into the faculty 



155 



