196 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



ard oi attainment in geology, nor given whatever impulse 

 has emanated from New Haven as one of the centres 

 of scientific labor and influence. Intellectual culture and 

 enlargement of mind resulted, of course, from the oppor- 

 tunities which I enjoyed. I went abroad at a period 

 of life when the ardor of youth was associated with the 

 maturity of manhood. Having no proclivities to wrong 

 courses, my time, money, efforts, were all enlisted in the 

 enlargement not only of professional, but of general knowl- 

 edge. I had vigorous health ; and, except a few days of 

 debility and derangement arising from the inhalation of 

 arsenical fumes in London, and from the influence of the 

 stagnant waters of Holland, producing, however, no in- 

 termission of labor, I was, during my entire European 

 noviciate, capable of strenuous exertion. I found it a 

 source of enjoyment as well as of improvement ; and the 

 acquisitions of that period, with the habits then formed, 

 proved to be an available capital, even forty-six years after- 

 ward, when Europe was the theatre of mature observation 

 in the evening of life. That some enlargement of mind 

 and social culture in the survey of human society and in- 

 stitutions, as well as in physical observations, resulted from 

 my European residence, has, I hope, appeared in some de- 

 gree in my earlier as well as more recent published vol- 

 umes of travels. They have proved, at least, that I was 

 not an idler nor a devotee of pleasure, and that I made 

 the best use of my time and opportunities of which I 

 was capable. I believe I may, without vanity or presump- 

 tion, repose upon the verdict of approval which has been 

 pronounced upon those works by the public in all their 

 numerous editions. Thus I conclude my review of an 

 important portion of my life, and with grateful acknowl- 

 edgment to a kind Providence, which, as with an unseen 

 hand, guided me in a path which I had not known, and 

 having kept me in safety and prospered my efforts, brought 

 me back in peace to my native land. I arrived in New 



