40 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



as I have been occupied in preparations for my departure, 

 to give more than a cursory glance over your pages. This, 

 however, has been sufficient to convince me that you have 

 exerted great industry in collecting the materials of your 

 volumes, and great skill and judgment in condensing and 

 arranging them. Immediately on my return, I shall have 

 much gratification in going over your volumes, with the 

 leisure and attention which are necessary to enable one 

 fully to profit by them. In this country very little has 

 been done lately so far as I am aware, is now doing 

 that is adapted to extend the boundaries of chemical 

 science. We have had for some time past one of those 

 seasons of repose of which the history of Natural Philos- 

 ophy furnishes many examples. We may hope that it will 

 be followed, as heretofore, by one of those seasons of ar- 

 dent and fruitful invention and discovery, during which 

 science springs forward with the greatest eagerness and 

 success. I cannot close this letter without thanking you 

 for the very handsome terms in which you have spoken of 

 my labors in the field which we all water in common. To 

 be so estimated by one so capable of judging is both a re- 

 ward for the past and an incitement for the future. I beg 

 to assure you that I am, with sincere respect and esteem, 

 dear Sir, 



Very respectfully yours, 



WM. HENKT. 



With Mr. William Maclure Professor Silliman 

 maintained a correspondence for a considerable num- 

 ber of years. His estimate of the character and ser- 

 vices of Mr. Maclure is given on a previous page. 

 The religious views of the latter were far from being 

 consonant with his own ; nor did Mr. Maclure's 

 schemes for social reorganization commend them- 

 selves to his judgment. Yet there was much in his 



