374 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



such arduous exertion, not even in the mountains and 

 mines of Derbyshire, in the centre of England, nor in 

 those of Cornwall, at the Land's End in the same country. 

 If I was able to perform those early labors at the age of 

 twenty-six, I have not shrunk from similar efforts at the 

 double age of fifty-one, and I have not succumbed under 

 them, although I have, from exposure, become as brown 

 as a Cherokee. My report was finished between ten and 

 eleven o'clock last night, when I read it aloud to the gen- 

 tlemen assembled at the hotel to hear it, and it appeared 

 to give good satisfaction." It was, after my return, print- 

 ed, and I presented two hundred copies to the people of 

 the valley. 



In 1832-3J by the appointment of the General Gov- 

 ernment, he engaged in a scientific examination of 

 the subject of the culture and manufacture of sugar. 

 It was a part of the aid which he rendered in the 

 development of the physical resources of the coun- 

 try. The " Reminiscences " contain an account of 

 this investigation. 



A resolution of the House of Representatives of the 

 United States was passed, January 25, 1830, requiring the 

 Secretary of the Treasury " to cause to be prepared a well- 

 digested manual, containing the best practical information 

 concerning the culture of the sugar-cane, and the fabrica- 

 tion and refinement of sugar, including the most modern 

 improvements." Being at Angelica, N. Y., on a visit to 

 my daughter, Maria T. Church and family, in September 

 1832, I received from home a letter from the Hon. Louis 

 McLean, Secretary of the Treasury, dated August 31, 

 1832, in which he desired me to take charge of the pro- 

 posed investigation. I replied that, as it was impossible to 

 visit all parts of the United States, where sugar was grown 

 or refined, I would undertake the proposed duty, provided 



