CHAPTER III. 



1831-1832. 



FIRST VISIT TO PARIS His RELATIONS WITH CUVIER HUMBOLDT 

 CHARMED WITH HlM HlS VlSIT TO THE SEASHORE AT DIEPPE 

 DEATH OF CUVIER SKETCH OF CUVIER'S LIFE CUVIER AND GEOF- 

 FROY ST. HlLAIRE THEIR DISCUSSION BEFORE THE FRENCH ACAD- 

 EMY OF SCIENCE CUVIER'S INFLUENCE ON AGASSIZ DIFFICULTY OF 

 GETTING AN OFFICIAL POSITION IN PARIS APPOINTED PROFESSOR AT 

 THE LYCEUM OF NEUCH^TEL. 



ON the 1 6th of December, 1831, after travelling by 

 diligence for two days and three nights, on the road 

 between Strasbourg and Paris, Agassiz and Dinkel 

 alighted in the great crowded courtyard of the " Messa- 

 geries Royales," rue Montmartre, so tired that they 

 could hardly move hand or foot. The fatigue of these 

 long journeys, in diligences, can hardly be realized now. 



Packed in the rotunda with six often disagreeable 

 neighbours, all breathing the same foul air, and jostled 

 and even severely shaken from the bad roads, over 

 which the diligence had to run, it was a great relief, 

 first when the paved roads were reached, eighty miles 

 before the arrival in Paris, and later when the great 

 stagecoach finally turned into the courtyard of the 

 " Messageries." It was an interesting sight for Agassiz 

 to watch the diligences, arriving or starting, with promi- 



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