184 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



of disease, is wonderful. There was much in his 

 situation to harass and sadden his feelings. His 

 Aim Tican friend, to whom he confided all his griev- 

 ances and anxieties, was never weary of the effort to 

 soothe and sustain him. The letters of Professor 

 Silliman were for many years one of his chief sources 

 of happiness. The present chapter is devoted to 

 selections from this correspondence, preceded, how- 

 ever, by Professor Silliman's own account of the 

 origin of the acquaintance. 



During my first visit to England and Scotland in 1805-6, 

 Dr. Mantell's star had not yet risen above the horizon. 

 Being ten or twelve years younger than myself, he was 

 then of course unknown to me, and was quite a youth. 

 More than twenty years after my return home, I began to 

 hear his name mentioned in connection with interesting 

 discoveries which lie was reported to have made in Pale- 

 ontology, in the southeast of England, where he resided, in 

 the ancient town of Lewes, in Sussex. A few years later 

 still, the fame of his published works reached me, and I 

 ventured to address to him a letter, in the autumn of 1830, 

 beting that he would send me his works on the geology 

 of the region in which he lived, and promising him a re- 

 turn in the American " Journal of Science and Arts," and 

 in any ntlicr work which I had published. I of course 

 stated n iv professional connection with Yale College, also 

 my personal acquaintance with England, and I gave refer- 

 to individuals to whom I was known in that country. 

 precautions, as appeared by the result, were unneces- 

 l>r. Mantell had already anticipated my request, 

 i::ul, unsolicited, clone the very thing which I desired. 

 In tlx.M days there were no ocean steamers, and the aver- 

 age ross the Atlantic, both ways, was thirty- 

 sue days, according to the experience of more than thirty 



