Es 
4 Benjamin Silliman. 
apse to the welfare of Yale College. When he went abroad, 
1805, to imself for the duties of his professorship, the 
jperchane of books for the library was one of the duties with 
which he was especially charged. He was one of the library com- 
mittee until his retirement. In his own departments, not only 
the Chemical Laboratory, but also the Cabinet of Minerals owed 
its existence to his energy. This collection is indeed so import 
ant, that something more than the mere mention of it seems due. 
About the time when Mr. Silliman was appointed a professor, 
the entire Jo nig i and ged collection of Yale College 
this small beginning grew the present cabinet. In 1810, owing te 
personal regard for Prof. Silliman, Col. Geo George Gibbs ‘deposited 
with Yale College his valuable collection of minerals, and, after 
it had remained ¢ open to the public fifteen years, various friends 
of the college, chiefly through the instrumentality of Prof. Sil 
liman, subscribed for its purchase the sum of $20,000. Other 
important accessions were also secured through his influence, 
not only from college graduates and other American gentlemen, 
but from various foreign collectors. 
The Clark telescope is another of the donations to Yale Col 
lege due to Prof. Silliman, This —— glass, the best in the 
country at the time of its purchase s the means of exciting: 
among the students of the college caeedh attention to astronom- 
ical pursuits for many years after its reception. ‘The liberal 
re 
portant gifts, placed himself foremost among all the benefactors 
of the college up to that time, and Mr. Silliman was the medium 
through whom his benefactions were bestowed. The Tramball 
Gallery of Paintings, a collection of priceless value, not only 
as works be art but also as illustrations of American history 
by ‘the influential vate put forth by Professor Silliman, 
was one of the chief founders of the Alumni association of 
the college, and at their anniversaries and on other occasions, he 
3 said, ‘‘the standing ‘orator’ of the « lege, 
9 ‘Te tte st ng fk ata ary 6184 pe! FP grcbow in his Al ! Fn i ad- 
dros: pointed gu the ced of water Sc Arts, or ane 
