372 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



were peculiarly important, and I have, therefore, given a 

 particular account of them. I have given also, without 

 reserve, the impressions which they produced upon the au- 

 dience and the public. The entire success by which they 

 were attended I can truly say never produced in my mind 

 any feelings of vanity and self-exaltation. I was too sen- 

 sible of the responsibility of my position, and of the diffi- 

 culty of presenting those great subjects clearly and attrac- 

 tively to such large and intelligent audiences, too sensible 

 of this to permit any other feeling* than that of the most 

 earnest sincerity, attended by the most strenuous efforts to 

 perform my duty well. I was also most ably assisted ; and 

 never, in the two seasons, and in the forty-nine or fifty lect- 

 ures which I delivered in the two double courses, was there 

 any failure in an experiment or in an illustration. 



I had, moreover, the happiness to obtain the good-will of 

 the people of Boston. The Orthodox and Unitarian influ- 

 ence was united in my favor. I had many warm friends 

 among both classes, and was equally cherished by both. 

 The moral and religious bearing of the lectures was de- 

 cided in illustration of the wisdom, power, and benevo- 

 lence manifested equally in the mechanical and chemical 

 constitution of our world. These deductions of natural the- 

 ology were out of the bounds of politics, and were equally 

 acceptable to the wise and good of all^ religious denomina- 

 tions. The language of the press was entirely friendly, 

 and even laudatory ; nor have I ever seen or heard of an 

 unfriendly paragraph. I was deeply gratified and deeply 

 grateful to God, and to a community which had thus gen- 

 erously adopted me, and entertain no doubt that the suc- 

 cessful issue of these Boston courses produced the still 

 more important engagement which four years later brought 

 me back to the metropolis of New England, the account of 

 which I hope to give in due time. It was, indeed, a bright 

 era in my life, a brilliant and remunerative success which 

 diffused the benefits of science, honored the Creator, cheered 



