380 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



too delightful if we could make this journey 

 together. I wish also, before starting, to re- 

 view everything that has been done of late in 

 paleontology, zoology, and comparative anat- 

 omy, that I may, in behalf of all these sciences, 

 take advantage of the circumstances in which 

 I shall be placed. . . . Whatever befalls me, 

 I feel that I shall never cease to consecrate 

 my whole energy to the study of nature ; its 

 all powerful charm has taken such possession 

 of me that I shall always sacrifice everything 

 to it ; even the things which men usually 

 value most." 



Agassiz had determined, before starting on 

 his journey, to complete all his unfinished 

 works, and to put in order his correspondence 

 and collections, including the vast amount of 

 specimens sent him for identification or for 

 his own researches. The task of " setting his 

 house in order ' ' for a change which, perhaps, 

 he dimly felt to be more momentous than it 

 seemed, proved long and laborious. From all 

 accounts, he performed prodigies of work, but 

 the winter and spring passed, and the summer 

 of 1845 found him still at his post. 



Humboldt writes him not without anxiety 

 lest his determination to complete all the tasks 

 he had undertaken, including the Nornenclator, 



