Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/387

 SILLIMAN

SILLIMAN

1811, wliile experimenting with the oxy-hydric blow-pipe, he reduced many minerals that pre- viously had been considered elements. He ex- amined one hundred coal mines in the Wyoming Valley in 1830 ; in 1834 delivered lectures in Hartford, Conn., and Lowell, Mass., and later in all the large American cities, delivering the first Lowell Institute lecture in Boston. 1838. He was made professor emeritus at Yale in 1853, but for two years continued his lectures on geology. He was a vigorous opponent of slavery and a sup- porter of Lincoln's administration. He was the first president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and in 1863 was appointed by congi-ess one of the corporate mem- bers of the National Academy of Sciences. He founded and for many years edited the American Journal of Science. The degree of M.D. was con- ferred upon him by Bowdoin in 1818 and that of LL.D. by Middlebury in 182G. He edited "Ele- ments of Chemistry" by AVilliam Henry and "Introduction to Geology " by Robert Blakewell, and wrote Journals of Travels in England, Hol- land and Scotland (1810) ; ^4 Short Tour between Hartford and Quebec (1820) ; Elements of Chem- istry in the Order of lectures given at Yale Col- lege (1831); Consistency of Discoveries of Modern Geology tvith the Sacred History of the Creation and the Deluge (1867) and Narrative of a visit to Europe in 1851 (1853). He was twice married: Sept. 17, 1809, to Harriet, daugliter of Governor Jonathan Trumbull (q.v.), and in 1851 to Mrs. Sarah Isabella Webb, daughter of John McClel- lan of Woodstock, Conn. Harriet Trumbull bore him one son, Benjamin (q.v.), and three daughters, one of whom married Prof. Oliver P. Hubbard (q.v.), and another, Harriet Francis, married Prof. James D. Dana (q.v.). Professor Silliman died in New Haven, Conn., Nov. 24, 1864.

SILLIMAN, Benjamin, chemist and naturalist, was born in New Haven, Conn., Dec. 4, 1816; son of Benjamin and Harriett (Trumbull) Silli- man. He was graduated at Yale, A.B., 1837, A.M., 1840, remaining there as assistant in chem- istry, 1837-46, as professor of ai^plied chemistry, 1846-53, and as professor of chemistry, 1853-85. He built himself a private chemical laboratory in 1844, where he performed many valuable ex- periments, and it was at his request that the School of Applied Chemistry was founded in 1846. This was enlarged in 1847 into the Yale Scientific school. He delivered public lectures on agricultural chemistry, the first in the United States, in New Orleans, 1845-46. He was a mem- ber of the New Haven common council, 1845-49, and a trustee of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. In 1849-54, he held the chair of medical chemistry and toxicology in the University of Louisville, Ky. At first, his chief interest was

in the chemistry of minerals, but later he de- voted himself to applied science. He made many donations to the Yale mineralogical collections and in 1843 secured the Baron Lederer collection for the college. He was secretary of the American Association of Geologists and Naturalists ; con- gress named him as an original member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1863, and at the World's Fair in New York, 1853, he had charge of the minei'alogical and geological departments. He received the degree of M.D. from the Univer- sity of South Carolina in 1849, and that of LL.D. from Jefferson Medical college in Philadelphia in 1884. He was editor of the American Journal of Science (1845-1885) and v-ilii Charles R. Good- rich, he edited World of Science, Art and Indus- try (1853) and Progress of Science and Mechanism (1854). Besides about a iiundred scientific papers published in periodicals, he wrote First PtHnciples of Chemistry (1846) ; Principles of Physics {XmS) and American Contributions to Chemistry (1775). He died in New Haven. Jan. 14, 1885.

SILLIMAN, Benjamin Douglas, lawyer, was born at Newport, R.I., Sept. 14. 1805 ; son of

Gold Selleck (1777-1868), and (Ely) Silliman.

He was graduated from Yale, A.B., 1824, A.M., 1827 ; studied law with James Kent and his son William Kent, and in 1829 was admitted to tlie bar, practising in New York city and residing in Brooklyn. In 1838 he was elected to the assem- bly, in 1839 was a member of the Harrisburg convention that nominated Harrison and Tyler, and in 1843 was the unsuccessful Whig candidate for state house of representatives. He was a staunch supporter of Lincoln's administration and in 1865-66 was the first U.S. district attorney for the Eastern District of New York. He was a member of the commission to revise the state constitution and as chairman of one committee and member of several others he played an im- portant part. He was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the attorney-generalship of New York in 1873, and in 1876 was a member of the Republican national convention at Cincinnati which nominated Hayes and Wheeler. He re- ceived the degree of LL.D. from Columbia, 1873, and from Yale, 1874. He was pi-esident of the Brooklyn Club for more than twenty years, pres- ident of the Yale Alumni Association of Long Island and president of the New England Society in the City of Brooklyn. He was a director of the Long Island Historical society, a trustee of Greenwood cemetery, a manager of the House of Refuge for Juvenile Delinquents in New York, and a vice-president of tlie Bar Association of New York which he was instrumental in insti- tuting in 1869 and of which William 31 Evurts was the first president, 1870-79. He died at his home in Brooklyn, Jan. 24, 1801.