216 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



them there were some beautiful specimens, particularly in 

 the lime family. They were regarded by me as an inter- 

 esting acquisition. My own collections in the mines of 

 Derbyshire and Cornwall, in England, not numerous, 

 indeed, but valuable, with a beautiful suite of Italian 

 polished marbles purchased in Edinburgh, and some local 

 specimens obtained in my rambles among the trap-rocks of 

 the Scottish capital, all these things, when arranged, 

 labelled, and described in illustration of the mineral por- 

 tion of the chemical lectures, served to awaken an interest 

 in the subject of mineralogy, and to produce both aspira- 

 tions and hopes, looking towards a collection which should 

 by-and-by deserve the name of a cabinet. Our own local- 

 ities in the vicinity of New Haven, containing agates, chal- 

 cedonies, phrenite, zeolites, marble, and serpentines, were, 

 in the progress of research, not neglected, and the discov- 

 ery of them in due time excited zeal and afforded pleasure- 



Origin of Geology in Tale College. It has been already 

 remarked that when I left New Haven, in March, 1805, on 

 my way to England, I was quite in the dark regarding the 

 nature of the rocks that surrounded me at home, and I 

 have already stated how light broke in upon me in Edin- 

 burgh. It was, therefore, natural that I should, early after 

 my return, attempt to ascertain whether the geological 

 analogies, which I thought I had discovered between New 

 Haven and Edinburgh, were well founded. Accordingly, 

 as soon as academical duties would permit, I commenced 

 the examination of the mineral structure of our plains, 

 hills, and mountains. In these excursions, generally made 

 on horseback, because an extensive area and circuit of 

 country were to be examined, I was attended by several 

 friends who felt an interest in the subject, and who, both 

 from personal and scientific feeling, sympathized with the 

 youthful explorer. I mention with pleasure, that the dis- 

 tinguished philologist, Dr. Noah Webster, then in the me- 



