132 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



But it will not be indifferent to you to know 

 that Cotta is disposed to accept my Fishes. 

 He has been at Munich for some days, and 

 Schimper has been talking with him, and has 

 advanced matters more by a few words than 

 I had been able to do by much writing. For 

 this reason I intend returning soon to Munich 

 to complete the business, since Cotta is to be 

 there several weeks longer. Thus I shall have 

 reached my aim, and be provided from this 

 autumn onward with an independent mainte- 

 nance. I was often very anxious this past 

 winter, in my uncertainty about the means 

 of finally making good such large outlays. 

 If, however, Cotta makes no other condition 

 than that of a certain number of subscrib- 

 ers, I shall be sure of them in six months. 

 You may thus regard what I have done as a 

 speculation happily concluded, and one which 

 places me at the summit of my desires, for it 

 leaves me free, at last, to work upon my pro- 

 lecLS. ... 



A letter to his brother, of the 29th of May, 

 just after his return to Munich, gives a retro- 

 spect of the Viennese visit, including the per- 

 sonal details which he had hesitated to write 

 to his father. They are important as showing 



