FOUNDING LITHOGRAPHIC PRESS. 281 



tached, passed into other hands, and thence- 

 forward the home of Madame Agassiz was 

 with her children, among whom she divided 

 her time. 



In 1838 Agassiz founded a lithographic 

 printing establishment in Neuchatel, which 

 was carried on for many years under his di- 

 rection. Thus far his plates had been litho- 

 graphed in Munich. Their execution at such 

 a distance involved constant annoyance, and 

 sometimes great waste of time and money, in 

 sending the proofs to and fro for correction. 

 The scheme of establishing a lithographic 

 press, to be in a great degree at his charge, 

 was certainly an imprudent one for a poor 

 man; but Agassiz hoped not only to facilitate 

 his own publications by this means, but also 

 to raise the standard of execution in works of 

 a purely scientific character. Supported partly 

 by his own exertions, partly by the generosity 

 of others, the establishment was almost exclu- 

 sively dependent upon him for its unceasing 

 activity. He was fortunate in securing for 

 its head M. Hercule Nicolet, a very able litho- 

 graphic artist, who had had much experience 

 in engraving objects of natural history, and 

 was specially versed in the recently invented 

 art of chromatic lithography. 



