HIS SERVICES TO SCIENCE. 333 



dation, errors demand correction, and in many cases state- 

 ments and opinions, especially those which might lead to 

 controversy, require modification. The editor is also re- 

 sponsible for the scientific character of the articles admit- 

 ted, and the selection of these is frequently, not only a 

 matter of delicacy, but also of difficulty, lest the self-esteem 

 of a sensitive author be too deeply wounded, or the first 

 effort of a youthful aspirant to scientific reputation too 

 rudely repressed. In reply to some remarks on an article 

 of less scientific merit than the general standard of the 

 Journal, Professor Silliman once said to me, " Could you 

 see what I reject, and the amount of correspondence which 

 such rejection involves, you would not be surprised that I 

 should occasionally suffer an article to appear not strictly 

 in accordance with my own views. I try, however," con- 

 tinued he, " to express disagreeable truths in language as 

 little offensive as possible ; to encourage beginners, and to 

 elicit observations of natural phenomena even from those 

 who make no pretensions to science." This was a judicious 

 course, since thousands of valuable facts, palpable to every 

 one, present themselves in the field and in the workshop, 

 and are suffered to pass away for want of a proper record 

 which might serve to fix them as elements of future gener- 

 alizations. Though it has been the aim of the editor of the 

 " American Journal," to thus gather up and preserve the 

 minutest materials of scientific knowledge, yet the work 

 has always maintained that dignity of character which be- 

 comes its important mission, and that strict impartiality 

 which alone is compatible with the advance of truth. 



Through his instruction of a large class of admiring 

 pupils, collected from almost all parts of this continent ; 

 through his hospitable attention as a citizen of New Haven 

 to the many visitors of that beautiful city ; through his 

 public lectures, and by means of the Journal, Professor 

 Silliman became more widely known, and more highly 

 appreciated, than any other man of science in this country ; 



