PREFACE. 



PROFESSOR SILLIMAN, after he had retired from 

 active duty in College, spent considerable time, at 

 the request of members of his family, in writing down 

 reminiscences of his life. His first design was to 

 describe the establishment and growth of the depart- 

 ments of instruction in Yale College, which had been 

 so long under his care ; and for this reason he com- 

 mences with his appointment as Professor of Chem- 

 istry. From the beginning, however, he introduces 

 other facts relating to his personal history, and before 

 he has proceeded far, he announces such a modifi- 

 cation of his plan as gives to the work, during the 

 period which it covers, the character of an Auto- 

 biography. The narrative terminates with the resig- 

 nation of his Professorship. From this date, and, 

 indeed, for several years previous to it, his Diary 

 is a full repository of public and private events, until 

 within a few years of his death, when other occupa- 

 tions left him less time for keeping up this daily 

 record. In addition to these valuable documents, 

 there are found among his papers an autobiographical 

 fragment relating to the period of his childhood ; an 



