258 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



Fishes." But, having begun it, I have no al- 

 ternative ; my only safety is in success. I 

 have a firm conviction that I shall bring my 

 work to a happy issue, though often in the 

 evening I hardly know how the mill is to be 

 turned to-morrow. . . . 



By a great good fortune for me, the Brit- 

 ish Association, at the suggestion of Buck- 

 land, Sedgwick, and Murchison, has renewed, 

 for the present year, its vote of one hundred 

 guineas toward the facilitating of researches 

 upon the fossil fishes of England, and I hope 

 that a considerable part of this sum may be 

 awarded to me, in which case I may be able to 

 complete the greater number of the drawings 

 I need. If I had obtained in France only 

 half the subscriptions I have had in England, 

 I should be afloat ; but thus far M. Bailliere 

 has only disposed of some fifteen copies. . . . 

 My work advances fairly ; I shall soon have 

 described all the species I know, numbering 

 now about nine hundred. I need some weeks 

 in Paris for the comparison of several tertiary 

 species with living ones in order to satisfy my- 

 self of their specific identity, and then my task 

 will be accomplished. Next comes the put- 

 ting in order of all my notes. My long va- 

 cations will give me time to do this with the 

 greatest care. . . . 



