140 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. vii. 



Great Britain." The Sowerby brothers, who were the 

 authors and publishers of this costly work, thought the 

 proceeding a little too high-handed ; and the editor of 

 " The Magazine of Natural History," Edward Charles- 

 worth, published a rather sharp article in the May num- 

 ber (Vol. III., p. 254, London, 1839), ' m which he calls it 

 a " piracy upon the literary production of English natu- 

 ralists," and adds, " Agassiz has met with the most cordial 

 support on all sides, and in various ways, from the culti- 

 vators of science in this country ; and, although it may 

 appear harsh thus to express ourselves, we do not hesi- 

 tate openly to declare our conviction that in editing a 

 transcript in the French language of the * Mineral Con- 

 chology of Great Britain,' its author cannot be said to 

 have really promoted the objects of science, still less to 

 have added to his own reputation." 



Agassiz promptly answered, in an autograph letter 

 addressed to all his correspondents and subscribers, and 

 reproduced in French and also in English in No. 31 of 

 the " Magazine of Natural History" (Vol. III., p. 356), 

 entitled, " Lettre ecrite par M. Ls. Agassiz a M. Ed. 

 Charlesworth, en reponse a une article insere dans le No. 

 29 du 'Magazine of Natural History.' In this Agassiz 

 says, " The assertions and insinuations of the article are 

 altogether malicious and without foundation. . . . The 

 knowledge which I possess of the most important 

 European scientific publications has assured me that a 

 French or German edition of the work, published at 

 lower price (one-fourth the cost of the original work), 

 would be rendering a real service to science, without in 

 any way proving injurious to the original edition, for 



