And while the sciences and truth have thus made progress here, through these labors of fifty years, the means of study in the institution have no less increased. Instead of that half-bushel of stones, which once went to Philadelphia for names, in a candle-box, you see above the largest mineral cabinet in the country, which but for Professor Silliman, his attractions and his personal exertions together, would never have been one of the glories of old Yale.... Moreover, the American Journal of Science,—now in its thirty-seventh year and seventieth volume [1856],—projected and long-sustained solely by Professor Silliman, while ever distributing truth, has also been ever gathering honors, and is one of the laurels of Yale. We rejoice that in laying aside his studies, after so many years of labor, there is still no abated vigor.... He retires as one whose right it is to throw the burden on others. Long may he be with us, to enjoy the good he has done, and cheer us by his noble and benign presence.” In addition to these words of Dana, much of vital interest in regard to Silliman and his work will be gathered from what is given in the pages immediately following, quoted from his personal statements in the early volumes of the Journal. _The Early Years of the Journal._ In no direction did Silliman’s enthusiastic activities in science produce a more enduring result than in the founding and carrying on of the Journal. The first suggestion in regard to the enterprise was made to Silliman by his friend, Colonel George Gibbs, from whom the famous Gibbs collection of minerals was bought by Yale College in 1825. Silliman says (=25=, 215, 1834): [Illustration: THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, MORE ESPECIALLY OF _MINERALOGY_, _GEOLOGY_, AND THE OTHER BRANCHES OF NATURAL HISTORY; INCLUDING ALSO _AGRICULTURE_ AND THE ORNAMENTAL AS WELL AS USEFUL ARTS. CONDUCTED BY _BENJAMIN SILLIMAN_, PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, MINERALOGY, ETC. IN YALE COLLEGE, AUTHOR OF TRAVELS IN ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND HOLLAND, ETC. VOL. I. ... NO. I. ENGRAVING IN THE PRESENT NO. New apparatus for the combustion of TAR, &c. by the vapour of water. New York: PUBLISHED BY J. EASTBURN AND CO. LITERARY ROOMS, BROADWAY, AND BY HOWE AND SPALDING, NEW-HAVEN Abraham Paul, printer. 1818.] “Col. Gibbs was the person who first suggested to the Editor the project of this Journal, and he urged the topic with so much zeal and with such cogent arguments, as prevailed to induce the effort in a case then viewed as of very dubious success. The subject was thus started in November, 1817; proposals for the Journal were issued in January, 1818, and the first number appeared in July of that year.”