92 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



maintained between them and their families. The Pres- 

 ident having ever, and particularly since his accession to 

 the presidency in 1795, taken a parental interest in the 

 welfare of my brother and myself, my brother Gold. S. 

 Silliman and myself were classmates, I felt it to be both 

 a privilege and a duty to ask his advice on this occasion. 

 After I had stated the case to him, he promptly replied, 

 and with his usual decision said : " I advise you not to go 

 to Georgia. I would not voluntarily, unless under the in- 

 fluence of some commanding moral duty, go to live in a 

 country where slavery is established ; you must encounter, 

 moreover, the dangers of the climate, and may die of a fever 

 within two years. I have still other reasons which I will 

 now proceed to state to you." He then proceeded to say 

 that the corporation of the College had, several years before, 

 at his recommendation, passed a vote or resolution to estab- 

 lish a Professorship of Chemistry and Natural History as 

 soon as the funds would admit of it. The time, he said, 

 had now arrived when the College could safely carry the 

 resolution into effect. He said, however, that it was at 

 present impossible to find among us a man properly qual- 

 ified to discharge the duties of the office. He remarked, 

 moreover, that a foreigner, with his peculiar habits and prej- 

 udices, would not feel and act in unison with us, and that 

 however able he might be in point of science, he would not 

 understand our college system, and might therefore not act 

 in harmony with his colleagues. 



He saw no way but to select a young man worthy of 

 confidence, and allow him time, opportunity, and pecuniary 

 aid to enable him to acquire the requisite science and skill, 

 and wait for him until he should be prepared to begin. He 

 decidedly preferred one of our own young men born and 

 trained among us, and possessed of our habits and sympa- 

 thies. 



The President then did me the honor to propose that 

 I should consent to have my name presented to the Cor- 



