92 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



Professor Sittiman, 



DEAR SIR, Your letter having been laid before the Fel- 

 lows of Yale College, at their meeting convened August 13, 

 and adjourned August 16, 1849, it was Resolved, That this 

 Board entertains a high and grateful sense of the very em- 

 inent services which Professor Silliman has rendered to the 

 College during his long term of office ; and regrets that the 

 approach of old age makes him feel it to be necessary to 

 withdraw from his professorship. Resolved, That he be 

 requested to continue his lectures in the departments of 

 Mineralogy and Geology, after the autumn of 1850, when 

 his resignation is to take effect, should his life and health be 

 spared until that period. And I was directed to furnish 



you with a copy of these resolutions Allow me 



to express my deep regret that the time draws- nigh when 

 you and Professor Kingsley contemplate a partial or entire 

 sundering of that bond which has so long bound you to 

 Yale College. It will give me a feeling of loneliness and 

 desolation when you leave us. 



Very truly and respectfully yours, 



August 17, 1849. THEODORE D. WOOLSEY. 



President Woolsey, 



REV. AND DEAR SIR, I return you my thanks for your 

 letter of August 17, communicating a copy of certain res- 

 olutions of the Corporation of Yale College, in relation to 

 myself and the professorship which I -have prospectively 

 resigned. I am gratified by the favorable opinion enter- 

 tained of my services, and am grateful to you for the kind 

 manner in which you have communicated it. I will take 

 into respectful consideration the request of the Corpora- 

 tion, that I would continue to teach in the mineral depart- 

 ment of the professorship, and will in due time communi- 

 cate my decision. 



I remain, my dear Sir, 

 Very respectfully and truly yours, 



.4^^20,1849. B. SILLIMAN. 



