Elements of Chemistry, in the order of the lectures given at Yale College

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Benjamin Silliman, Sr. (1779-1864), a pioneering and highly influential early American educator and scientist, was also a venerable professor of chemistry and geology at Yale College, and founder of the American Journal of Science. This massive treatise, (the largest American chemistry textbook of its time), is arguably Silliman's most important scientific work. "Elements" provided a detailed, up-to-date synopsis of the subject that compared favorably with European textbooks of that day (DSB). This treatise presents an amalgam of topics in physics (light, heat, electricity, galvanism, etc.), mineralogy (crystallization, analyses of minerals and mineral waters), materia medica, pharmacy and the chemistry of plant and animal substances, as well as covering traditional topics in chemistry (metals, nonmetals, compounds, etc.). In a memorian to Professor Silliman presented at the National Academy of Sciences it was said: "In 1830 he published an elaborate treatise on General Chemistry, in two volumes, octavo, entitled "Elements of Chemistry, in the order of the Lectures given in Yale College." It lays no claim to originality in the treatment of the subject. From the results of his own laboratory, and from his much reading, he gathered up all the known facts and laws of the science, and embodied them in a form which he deemed most convenient for instruction. His object, as expressed in his own language, was "to unite copiousness with condensation, perspicuity with brevity, and a lucid order and due connection of subordinate parts with a general unity of design."" BOOK DETAILS AND CONDITION: 2 Volumes, 8vo, First Edition (Second Issue); new boards, new brown cloth spine with paper labels. I: 2 blanks (1 detached), xii, 518 pp, 2 blanks; II: 2 blanks, viii, 696, 3 plates, 48, 12 pp. See Neville II pp 476-7. The first issue did not include the 3 plates following p 696. Overall VG. FOOTNOTE: The Silliman Memorial lectures series has been published by Yale University since 1901. The lectures were established by the university on the foundation of a bequest of $80,000, left in 1883 by Augustus Ely Silliman, in memory of his mother, Mrs. Hepsa Ely Silliman. Hepsa Ely was the daughter of the Reverend David Ely, a member of the Yale College Class of 1769. She was married to Gold Selleck Silliman, brother of Professor Benjamin Silliman and a 1796 graduate of Yale College. She was the mother of two sons, August Ely Silliman and Benjamin Douglas Silliman. Benjamin graduated from Yale College in 1824. N° de ref. del artículo EBS100446

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