182 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



But when he tried to hold and make fast the 

 image, it escaped him. Nevertheless, he went 

 early to the Jardin des Plantes, thinking that 

 on looking anew at the impression he should 

 see something which would put him on the 

 track of his vision. In vain, the blurred 

 record was as blank as ever. The next night 

 he saw the fish again, but with no more satis- 

 factory result. When he awoke it disappeared 

 from his memory as before. Hoping that the 

 same experience might be repeated, on the 

 third night he placed a pencil and paper be- 

 side his bed before going to sleep. Accord- 

 ingly toward morning the fish reappeared in 

 his dream, confusedly at first, but at last with 

 such distinctness that he had no longer any 

 doubt as to its zoological characters. Still 

 half dreaming, in perfect darkness, he traced 

 these characters on the sheet of paper at the 

 bedside. In the morning he was surprised to 

 see in his nocturnal sketch features which he 

 thought it impossible the fossil itself should 

 reveal. He hastened to the Jardin des Plantes, 

 and, with his drawing as a guide, succeeded in 

 chiseling away the surface of the stone under 

 which portions of the fish proved to be hid- 

 den. When wholly exposed it corresponded 

 with his dream and his drawing, and he sue- 



