52 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



cess of education, what is the subject of thought and study, 

 than the thought itself, the habit of study, the power of con- 

 centrating the mind on whatever may come before it. 



After leaving college, I was much delighted by Mr. Silli- 

 man's kind attentions. Particularly the winter following, 

 on my way to the eastern shore of Maryland, I found him 

 in Philadelphia, in attendance on a course of lectures on 

 chemistry ; and by his importunity was persuaded to remain 

 over a day; was conducted by him to points of interest, 

 and brought to dine with him and a few other gentlemen 

 of his circle. I was also favored with an epistolary corre- 

 spondence with him for a year or two. Mr. Silliman was 

 personally interested in the glorious revival at college in 

 1802. He was supposed to be a convert to Christianity at 

 that time. He had been exemplary before, and his prayers 

 in the chapel indicated thought and feeling on the great 

 things of the Christian faith, though before the revival they 

 were probably precomposed. Precious man, may we be 

 prepared to follow him ! 



Some notice should be here given of the early 

 friends of Professor Silliman. Among these, none 

 stood nearer than his classmate Charles Denison. 

 They were tutors together, and were admitted to the 

 Bar at the same time. With the exception of his 

 own brother, there was no one for whom Mr. Silli- 

 man cherished a warmer regard than for Denison. 

 This gentleman became a lawyer of high respecta- 

 bility in New Haven, and died in 1825. Among his 

 fellow-tutors were two with whom he was destined 

 to be intimately associated for nearly the whole of a 

 long life. These were Jeremiah Day and James L. 

 Kingsley. Mr. Day was a year before him in col- 

 lege, and Mr. Kingsley three years after him. The 

 three men were widely .different from each other 



