CHAPTER IX. 



GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY IN YALE COLLEGE: THE 

 WESTON METEOR. 



Visit to his Mother. Reaction from Excitement and the Benefit of Occu- 

 pation. Lectures to the Class of 1806. Introduction to tlie Cabinet 

 of Col. Gibbs at Newport. Miss Ruth Gibbs. The Collection of Min- 

 erals in Yale College. Origin of Geology in Yale College. Geological 

 Excursions about New Haven. Dr. Noah Webster. Lectures in 

 18D6-7. Intercourse with Col. George Gibbs. Visit to Boston and 

 Cambridge. Kindness of the Gibbs Family. Purchase of the Perkins 

 Cabinet. Visit of Gov. Trumbull to the Cabinet. Republication of 

 Henry's Chemistry. The Weston Meteor. Correspondence. 



MY last duty on leaving my country for Europe, in March 

 1805, was to bid farewell to my mother and the excellent 

 family in which she had formerly resided ; so my first duty 

 after my return, was to resort again to Wallingford she 

 had been married in the spring of 1804 to Dr. John Dick- 

 inson ; her home was now at Middletown, but our inter- 

 views were at Wallingford to present myself to her, by 

 God's blessing, safe and sound. At seventy years of age, 

 her faculties were still in full vigor, and her affections fresh 

 as in earlier years. This filial duty being discharged, pro- 

 fessional claims commanded my attention next. I attended 

 to the opening of the chemical apparatus and preparations. 

 This occupation was both a duty and a relief. It was a 

 duty as an indispensable preliminary to the renewal of my 

 professional labors, and it was a relief from mental collapse. 

 I had been between fourteen and fifteen months in a state 

 of high excitement, and while in Europe I was constantly 

 engaged in efforts which called into action both my intel- 

 lectual and physical powers. 



