LETTER FROM CHANCELLOR KENT. 405 



In 1842, Professor Silliman gave the Address to 

 the Alumni of Yale College, the reception ,of a copy 

 of which was thus acknowledged in a letter 



FROM CHANCELLOR KENT. 



NEW YORK, October 30, 1842. 



My DEAR SIR, I thank you for your address before the 

 Alumni of Yale College. Though I heard it delivered, I 

 have read it with renewed, and indeed increased, interest. 

 I delight in the visions of ancient reminiscences, and, when 

 I was at New Haven I saw, with a pang, the desolate ground 

 where the President's old house stood. 



Your pamphlet affords me an apology for writing to you, 

 for you must know that I was deeply attracted by your ear- 

 liest publication, and the charm of your style, taste, ability, 

 learning, andmoral character, has been ever since growing 

 with my years and strengthening with my judgment. You 

 are aware, I presume, that I take your " Journal of Science," 

 and have it ab initio. The address in the October num- 

 ber before the geologists at Boston, interested me exceed- 

 ingly, and I have much to regret that I am so ignorant of 

 the sciences, except, perhaps, that I may be permitted to 

 claim some skill in the science of law. Of the physical 

 sciences, I am much attracted and delighted by astronomy 

 and geology. I ran over lately, by way of a refresher, Mrs. 

 Somerville's delightful sketch of the " Connection of the 

 Physical Sciences," and some of the earliest of the English 

 Quarterlies first drew my attention to the sublime science 

 of geology. I spent an evening with a party in this city, 

 where Mr. and Mrs. Lyell were present. I had not much 

 conversation with him, for everybody was about him, and I 

 was occupied very much with the attractive conversation of 

 his wife. He told me he was the author of one of the early 

 reviews on the geology of Central France. I own, and 

 have read and studied, his two volumes on the " Elements," 

 and his four volumes on the " Principles of Geology," and 



