220 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



B. S.'s, Jr., but was domesticated in both our houses, and 

 won us all by his affability, good-humor, and accommodat- 

 ing disposition, in addition to his fine person and cordial 

 manners. October 17th he attended my lecture. I had an- 

 nounced him to the class in attendance, about two hundred 

 in number, with a wing of some thirty or forty ladies. I was 

 on that day upon evaporation, and managed to bring the 

 subject through natural evaporation to rain, snow, and 

 snow-capped mountains and glaciers, at which point, (having 

 before spoken to him,) I appealed to him as an experienced 

 observer, and invited him to say something to the students 

 on the subject. He rose with some little appearance of em- 

 barrassment, but acquitted himself very well, and gratified 

 many young people. We, of course, showed him our public 

 rooms and collections, and I went with him to the top of 

 the East Rock, a trap precipice of nearly four hundred 

 feet high within a mile of the town. The view of a vast 

 trap region of peaks, knobs, a continuous barrier of trap of 

 wide primitive formations; our beautiful little city below 

 with a wide cultivated plain on which it stands ; and our 

 fine deep bay of five miles, caused our Swiss philosopher 

 to exclaim, How beautiful ! very beautiful ! 



TO DK. MANTELL. 



August 30, 1847. 



I HAVE looked through Mr. LyelPs references 



to you regarding the Wealden in the second edition of his 

 " Elements," and I must say that he ought to have made 

 you more prominent; but it is to be observed that the 

 " Elements " is a condensed work, in which it is a matter 

 of some importance to economize space, and the author 

 would urge in his defence, that often, where he has cited 

 your results in the page without naming you, he has re- 

 ferred at the bottom of the page to your works or your 

 memoirs. He has named you several times, and twice with 



