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Although he is remembered primarily for his contributions to scientific education and for offering the first course in geology in the United States, Benjamin Silliman wrote three major works of travel literature and frequently included scenic descriptions in his professional writing. At Yale his talent as a teacher, an editor, and a popularizer of science helped the university become one of the important centers for scientific education in New England. Often, Silliman's travel was in the service of science even when he traveled for personal reasons. For example, a journal he kept during a trip to regain his health contains meticulously detailed descriptions of geological formations. Perhaps because his interests were wide, Silliman lacked the focus to make original contributions to scientific knowledge he might otherwise have made, but his curiosity about the world and his ability to communicate made him an engaging travel writer. Through his writings one meets an intelligent, well-educated nineteenth-century American traveler at home and abroad.
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