CHAPTER II. 



A STUDENT IN YALE COLLEGE. 



His Admission to College. President Stiles. President Dwight. His 

 Studies. College Diary: His Anxiety to be cured of Faults; Inau- 

 guration of Dr. Dwight; Recitations under Dr. Dwight; Situation of 

 College under the New President; His Reading; Dinner at Dr. Dana's; 

 His Desire of Knowledge ; Thoughts about a Profession. 



MR. SILLIMAN entered Yale College in 1792, the 

 youngest of his class save one. During the first 

 three years of his college life the institution was un- 

 der the presidency of Dr. Ezra Stiles. He was prob- 

 ably the most learned man of his time in America. 

 In theology he was a diligent student of the Fathers 

 and the Rabbies in the original tongues; but such 

 was his avidity for all sorts of knowledge, that he 

 made himself equally conversant with history, mathe- 

 matics, and the physical sciences. Dr. Stiles was 

 a liberal-minded man, was possessed of superior 

 natural powers, and formed his opinions with inde- 

 pendence. Yet his other qualities were in part hid- 

 den under the copious stream of erudition which 

 seemed to pour out spontaneously whenever he 

 opened his lips in public. Mr. Silliman being of the 

 younger classes, seldom came into near contact with 

 the President, and the chief impression which Dr. 

 Stiles produced on him was that of awe for his 

 station and for his uncommon acquirements. He 



