113 
To talented and ambitious young men the profession of the 
law was then as now, and probably more then than now, the 
road to honor and fortune. Following in the footsteps of his 
father, young Silliman turned his attention to the study of 
the law. While prosecuting these studies, at an interval of 
three years from the time of his graduation, he received the 
appointment of Tutor in his Alma Mater. His last colle- 
giate year was spent under the Presidency of Dr. Dwight, 
who no doubt saw in his youthful pupil those elements of 
character which fitted him for the duties of a college teacher. 
His name first appears on the catalogue as a tutor in 1799. 
He held the office for three years. In connection with his 
duties as tutor, he continued to prosecute the study of the 
law, and was admitted to the bar of New Haven in 1802. 
But another field of labor awaited him for which no doubt 
the study of legal principles, and especially the law of evi- 
dence, had given him a most valuable preparation. 
Chemistry and Natural History had begun to attract the 
attention of educators. They had heretofore been regarded 
more as an adjunct to the medical profession than as a branch 
of general education. The science of Chemistry was then 
in its infancy. Its foundations had been laid, and it was des- 
tined to a rapid growth. Priestley had shown the existence 
and properties of Oxygen. The important doctrines of 
latent and specific heat had been discovered by Black. 
Cavendish had shown the existence of Hydrogen as a dis- 
tinct fluid, and had succeeded in the decomposition of water. 
Lavoisier had demonstrated the chemical changes involved 
in combustion and evaporation. Dalton had explained the 
properties of vapors and gases, and especially had dis- 
‘eovered the law of combination in definite proportions, and of 
_ chemical equivalents. Cuvier in the meridian of his glory 
was building up the great science of Comparative Anatomy, 
— 10* 
