1827-31-] WORKS ON NATURAL HISTORY. 29 



expense to be incurred (for Agassiz never knew before- 

 hand what his work would be, even approximately, as 

 to quantity of text and plates), he found that he could 

 rely upon no one, but must himself publish his rather 

 expensive work. Martius's work on Brazil was aided 

 by a large subscription from the purse of the king of 

 Bavaria. The only country in which it was possible to 

 find a publisher for a very expensive work on natural 

 history was France; and even there publishers required 

 a certain number of subscriptions from the government 

 before accepting the charge. " The Mineral Conchol- 

 ogy of Great Britain ' had involved great expense, 

 without proper return, and was anything but a success 

 in a pecuniary way. Goldfuss's " Petrefacta Germania," 

 then in course of publication, 1826-44, was supported 

 only by the personal sacrifice of the author himself. 

 Even Cuvier's great work on the ".ossements f ossiles ' 

 was not successful from a bookseller's point of view, 

 and without the help of the French government it 

 would have been impossible to publish it. 



If Agassiz had been a business man, or a good man- 

 ager, he might have succeeded in having his work on 

 the fossil fishes published in Paris, with a sufficient 

 subscription from the Secretary of Public Instruction to 

 carry on the work, if not at a profit, at least without 

 loss on his part ; for Cuvier was then publishing his 

 " Histoire Naturelle des Poissons " in that way; and if 

 that great work, finished after the death of Cuvier 

 by Valenciennes, was not a pecuniary success, it en- 

 tailed at least no expense upon its two authors. 



Agassiz always acted as if he were a very rich man ; 



