356 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



of those under Providential bereavement, and these kindly 

 offices were rendered in so unobtrusive and courteous a 

 manner, as to enhance them tenfold. I never knew a more 

 unselfish man, a man of larger heart, and if I differed from 

 him in opinion in regard to the complicated questions of the 

 day, I felt assured that his views and acts were the result 

 of conscientious conviction. I think the cause of science 

 in the United States owes its progress more to Professor 

 Silliman than to any other individual. 



His memory is cherished by me with the warmest affec- 

 tion and deepest reverence. 



All who have occasion to think or speak of Pro- 

 fessor Silliman, are sure to revert to the courtesy of 

 his manners. His deportment was equally removed 

 from stiffness on the one hand, and from a vulgar 

 familiarity on the other. 



" He was," says President Woolsey, " among all the men 

 who have lived in this city during the present century 

 as I think will be conceded by everybody the most fin- 

 ished gentleman. And this was true of him in the highest 

 sense. I mean that it pertained not to his exterior, but to 

 his character and his soul. It was founded on a high sense 

 of honor, a delicate perception of what was due to others, 

 and was due from them to him. His dignity of manner 

 was not so much modelled after the old style, which the 

 gentlemen of the days before the Revolution handed down, 

 as it ran back into dignity of character ; it proceeded from 

 a self-valuation, which, without being assuming, takes the 

 right place, neither depriving others of what is their due, 

 nor being afraid to occupy a position which is fairly one's 

 own. But the radical, essential trait of his gentlemanly 

 character was gentleness and kindness. This led him to 

 study the pleasure, to respect the feelings of those in whose 

 society he was placed ; and this, whether they were high or 



