140 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



researches. The morning after the lecture, Mr. Dalton 

 gave me an hour or two in a conversational explanation of 

 his views, and in showing me his apparatus and mode of 

 experimenting. I had, in after years, occasion often to 

 quote his discourses. He lived to an honored old age, and 

 his name, as well as that of his (then to him unknown) co- 

 worker, Gay Lussac, is deeply engraven on the monumental 

 column dedicated to men eminent in science. Mr. Dalton 

 was the first scientific man whom I saw in England. I had 

 seen Mr. Roscoe equally eminent in literature. 



Dr. Henry was a great favorite with the scientific public, 

 and by the aid of chemical manufactures had secured 

 wealth, and his labors in science had won for him a high 

 and deserved reputation. But a mysterious Providence 

 removed him from life. He had recently returned from a 

 meeting of the British Association at Bristol, when, as is 

 believed, in a fit of derangement, he shot himself in a 

 domestic chapel in his own garden. 



On Monday, May 20th, I arrived in London, last from 

 Oxford, and obtained a home at No. 13 Margaret Street, 

 Cavendish Square, which had been the abode of a friend 

 of mine, Dr. Archibald Bruce of New York. By him I was 

 introduced to the worthy lady of the house, Mrs. Brooke ; 

 and this was my residence for nearly six months. It was 

 every way comfortable and desirable. The vote of the 

 President and Fellows of Yale College, of Sept. 7th, 1802, 

 included Natural History along with Chemistry in the Pro- 

 fessorship. So wide a range of research was very startling 

 to me. I was, however, willing to look at the subject and 

 see what could be done. The orders which were com- 

 mitted to me for the purchase of books and apparatus re- 

 quired a residence in London during the summer ; and I 

 was desirous to discover what sources of information were 

 accessible in the metropolis. My first object was, however, 

 to make arrangements for obtaining the books for the 

 library, and the apparatus for the philosophical and chemical 



