124 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. vi. 



turned from Algeria, his draughtsman Dinkel, who had 

 returned from his three years' stay in England, his sec- 

 retary Desor, and two students or amateurs of glaciers 

 and high alpine region. 



It was Agassiz's first excursion to the Bernese Alps, 

 and everything enchanted him ; from Thun to Inter- 

 laken, Meyringen, and Helleplatte, where the granite 

 is so finely polished and striated by old glaciers that it 

 looks like polished marble. Dinkel made an exact 

 drawing of it, which was published afterward by Agas- 



/ 



siz in the beautiful atlas accompanying his " Etudes sur 

 les glaciers." Agassiz was particularly impressed by 

 the Grimsel and its environs, and at this time made his 

 first visit to the glacier of the Aar, which afterward 

 became his great station for glacial observations. The 

 excursion lasted only ten days, and they were again at 

 Neuchatel on the 24th of August. 



The following letter addressed to the great Jurassic 

 geologist, Thurmann, on the occasion of the approach- 

 ing meeting of the Geological Society of France in 

 Switzerland, is interesting ; for it was written on the 

 same day he returned from the Oberland. 



NEUCHATEL, le 24 aout, 1838. 

 MONSIEUR JULES THURMANN, 

 a Porrentruy. 



Monsieur, - - J'arrive en ce moment a Neuchatel d'une tournee 

 dans les Alpes bernoises, ou j'etais alle inspecter cette partie de la 

 serie de nos glaciers, desirant remettre sur le tapis la question des 

 roches polies, des moraines, des blocs erratiques, etc., qui est si 

 evidente et sur laquelle la plupart de nos geologues out si peu de 



