REMARKS OF REV. DR. BACON. 349 



leagues of Professor Silliman, the observations 

 which were made by Rev. Dr. Bacon at a meeting 

 of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 

 will be read with interest. The meeting was de- 

 voted to the consideration of Professor Silliman's 

 character and work, Professor Lyman being in the 

 chair. The letter of Rev. Dr. Porter, of Farming- 

 ton, which is given on a previous page of this Me- 

 moir, had been read, and to this Dr. Bacon alludes 

 at the beginning of his remarks. 



The letter which has been read recalls vividly to my 

 mind my first personal interview with the venerable writer. 

 When I graduated, forty-four years ago, Dr. Porter, of 

 Farmington (though nobody had then begun to offend his 

 modesty by calling him Doctor), seemed to me almost as 

 old as he now does, though it is a mathematical truth 

 that he was much younger, being only seventeen years out 

 of College. Having become myself a graduate, and having 

 settled up my worldly affairs in this place, I set out the day 

 after Commencement, with my College room-mate, on a 

 pedestrian journey to Hartford, which was then my home ; 

 and, being in no hurry, we took the longest road, by way 

 of Farmington, not having walked that road before. We 

 took the liberty of calling on the minister of Farmington, 

 and had a kind reception. Talking about College and 

 Commencement, he told us our advantages had been far 

 greater than his, because it was his misfortune to pass 

 through College just before the great improvements in the 

 course of studies, a misfortune which it now seems to me 

 has befallen many of us, for great improvements in the 

 course of study have been of frequent occurrence within 

 my memory. 



Two of the long-forgotten things mentioned by Dr. 

 Porter remained in my day. One was the inauguration 



