LETTER FROM M. DE LA RIVE. 277 



pensable man. After having talked with some 

 influential persons here, I feel sure that if you 

 say to me, " I will come," I can obtain for 

 you the following conditions : 1st. A regular 

 salary of three thousand francs, beside the 

 student fees, which, in view of the character 

 of your instruction, your reputation, and the 

 novelty of your course, I place too low at a 

 thousand francs ; of this I am convinced. 2d. 

 The vacant professorship is one of geology 

 and mineralogy, but should you wish it De la 

 Planche will continue to teach the mineralogy, 

 and you will replace it by paleontology, or 

 any other subject which may suit you. . . . 

 Add to this resource that of a popular course 

 for the world outside, ladies and others, which 

 you might give in the winter, as at Neu- 

 chatel. The custom here is to pay fifty francs 

 for the course of from twenty-five to thirty 

 lectures. You will easily see that for such 

 a course you would have at least as large an 

 audience here as at Neuchatel. This is the 

 more likely because there is a demand for 

 these courses, Pictet being dead, and M. Rossi 

 and M. de Castella having ceased to give 

 them. No one has come forward as their 

 heir, fine as the inheritance is ; some are too 

 busy, others have not the kind of talent 



