130 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



than two months by the arrival in Munich of 

 his publisher, M. Cotta, a personal interview 

 with whom seemed to him important. The 

 only letter preserved from the Vienna visit 

 shows that his short stay there was full of in- 

 terest and instruction. 



TO HIS FATHER. 



VIENNA, May 11, 1830. 



. . . Since my arrival I have seen so much 

 that I hardly know where to begin my narra- 

 tive, and what I have seen has suggested re- 

 flections on many grave subjects, of a kind I 

 had hardly expected to make here. Nowhere 

 have I seen establishments on broader or more 

 stately foundations, nor do I believe that any- 

 where are foreigners allowed more liberal use 

 of like institutions. I speak of the university, 

 the hospitals, libraries, and collections of all 

 sorts. Neither have I seen anywhere else such 

 fine churches, and I have more than once felt 

 the difference between worshiping within bare 

 walls, and in buildings more worthy of devo- 

 tional purposes. In one word, I should be 

 enchanted with my stay in Vienna if I could 

 be free from the idea that I am always sur- 

 rounded by an imperceptible net, ready to 

 close upon me at the slightest signal. With 



