1831-32.] APPOINTED PROFESSOR AT NEUCHATEL. 47 



who had always taken a strong interest in Valenciennes' 

 welfare, rather discouraged the association, knowing 

 well that Agassiz would soon extinguish all Valen- 

 ciennes' future prospects. Humboldt exerted a strong 

 influence over Agassiz. As minister of Prussia in 

 France, he cunningly worked to detach Agassiz from 

 Paris, increasing rather than diminishing the obstacles 

 and difficulties Agassiz found there, acting in accord with 

 the Prussian governor at Neuchatel, and M. Louis de 

 Coulon, a rich and most benevolent Neuchatelois, who 

 wished in some way to attach Agassiz to the Lyceum 

 of Neuchatel. After the death of Cuvier, Agassiz, 

 with his independent character, was discouraged and 

 distressed by the constant intrigues going on under his 

 eyes in restless Paris. On the other hand, he was still 

 mindful of his happy days in Germany, and desired to 

 return there as a professor in some German university. 



Humboldt, little by little, persuaded Agassiz to accept 

 a very modest --altogether too modest position as pro- 

 fessor at the Lyceum of Neuchatel as a stepping-stone 

 and a preliminary position to a professorship at Berlin 

 or some other German university. Agassiz hesitated, 

 for he knew very well that Neuchatel was too small a 

 place, and devoid of all resources in natural history ; 

 and his thought was at first to settle at Lausanne, or 

 preferably at Geneva, then already a great scientific 

 centre. But Humboldt and Coulon united their efforts, 

 and at last secured the acceptance of Agassiz, who, in 

 September, 1832, left Paris, to the great joy of all the 

 young French naturalists of the capital ; for he was a 

 formidable rival taken out of the way. 



