DEATH OF DR. G. A. MANTELL. 123 



court. We now parted with great cordiality, hoping in 

 vain to meet again. We Mrs. S. and I were for- 

 cibly struck by the too evident decline of health in 

 Mr. Webster. His cheek was hollow ; his eye sunk deep, 

 even for him, and almost raylessy except when he was men- 

 tally excited ; his limbs were small ; and, altogether, his 

 appearance was painfully contrasted with the full, round, 

 and vigorous form which he presented at the inauguration 

 of President Everett in the year 1845, when I was present. 

 We Mrs. Silliman and I remarked to each other, that 

 we feared Mr. Webster had not long to live ; but we did 

 not expect a fatal crisis so soon. Mrs. Webster was in the 

 car, but sat with a friend on another seat, and was not a 

 party to the conversation, although she appeared to listen, 

 but was too far off to hear distinctly, or perhaps at all. 



Mrs. Silliman reminds me that Mr. Webster said, 



that while he could not understand the books, he had un- 

 derstood every word that I had said, and that he had de- 

 rived great satisfaction from the conversation, and wanted 

 a great deal more of it. When the steam-whistle sounded, 

 he exclaimed : " This is too bad ; I cannot be reconciled to 

 it ! " and said he would seek us at our home. When we 

 were near parting, Mr. Webster, in his own peculiar man- 

 ner, with a strong voice and an excited countenance, said : 

 " I have given my life to law and politics. Law is uncer- 

 tain, and politics are utterly vain ; but there is a noble cer- 

 tainty in science which commands my admiration, and I 

 should be willing to spend my remaining days in the study 

 of science." 



A few months after the death of Mr. Kingsley, 

 Professor Silliman was deprived of another friend to 

 whom he was united by the strongest bonds of con- 

 fidence and affection. 



Dr. Gideon Algernon Mantell. This lamented man, my 

 faithful and devoted friend during twenty years, died at his 



