302 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



Lindsley, he was associated with the eminent Dr. Troost. 

 We had occasion to lament that only a brief course of duty 

 was allotted to him. He died of consumption, in 1828, 

 having a decided Christian hope. From his death-bed he 

 sent me an aerolite that had fallen in Tennessee, at the 

 same time that he sent me an affectionate farewell. 



More than forty years ago I believe in the year 1817 

 I received a box of minerals from a person, then unknown 

 to me, who signed his name Edward Hitchcock, teacher of 

 the Academy of Deerfield, Mass. He stated that he had 

 collected these minerals from the rocks and mountains in 

 the vicinity ; and as he stated, moreover, that they were 

 unknown to him, he desired me to name them and return 

 them to him with the labels. I promptly complied with the 

 request, and as the accompanying letter of Mr. Hitchcock 

 was written with modest good sense, and indicated a love 

 of knowledge, I invited him to send to me another box, 

 and I promised him to return it with the information he 

 desired. It came, and was attended to accordingly. The 

 minerals were chiefly of the zeolite family, chabasie, 

 analcime, mezotype, and agatized quartz, &c., being the 

 usual companions of trap-rocks, such as are numerous in 

 that region. I then invited Mr. Hitchcock to visit me in 

 New Haven. The invitation was accepted, and for a series 

 of years he was often here, and attended all the courses of 

 lectures with more or less of regularity. He discovered an 

 amiable character and an ardent mind animated by the 

 love of knowledge, and he engaged with great industry in 

 the study of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology. The 

 "Journal of Science and Arts" was instituted the next 

 year, 1818, and Mr. Hitchcock appeared in the first vol- 

 ume. His communications have been numerous and im- 

 portant. I have found between fifty and sixty titles of his 

 papers in the tables of contents and in the index ; not a 

 few of them are elaborate, and indicate much care and skill. 



