GLACIAL EXPLORATIONS. 287 



form for many a year, that of becoming a 

 member of a body so illustrious as the Royal 

 Society of London. . . . 



Each time I write I wish I could close with 

 the hope of seeing you soon ; but I must work 

 incessantly ; that is my lot, and the happiness 

 I find in it gives a charm to niy occupations 

 however numerous they may be. . . . 



While Agassiz's various zoological works 

 were thus pressed with unceasing activity, the 

 glaciers and their attendant phenomena, which 

 had so captivated his imagination, were ever 

 present to his thought. In August of the 

 year 1838, a year after he had announced at 

 the meeting of the Helvetic Society his com- 

 prehensive theory respecting the action of the 

 ice over the whole northern hemisphere, he 

 made two important excursions in the Alps. 

 The first was to the valley of Hassli, the 

 second to the glaciers of Mont Blanc. In 

 both he was accompanied by his scientific 

 collaborator, M. Desor, whose intrepidity and 

 ardor hardly fell short of his own ; by Mr. 

 Dinkel as artist, and by one or two students 

 and friends. These excursions were a kind 

 of prelude to his more prolonged sojourns on 

 the Alps, and to the series of observations car- 



