1846.] ON A CUNARD STEAMSHIP. 277 



for and an invalid wife whose health was a cause of 

 great apprehension to all her friends. In addition, his 

 stay in Paris and in England had dissipated all hope, 

 if he had entertained any, of getting there official posi- 

 tions lucrative enough to satisfy his numerous wants 

 and pecuniary obligations. 



Success in America was for him a necessity, as he 

 plainly saw, and he resolved to conquer, and bravely and 

 nobly to meet his destiny, whatever came. The first 

 thing for him to do was to master the English language 

 sufficiently to allow him to speak in public and be under- 

 stood. Ever since his first visit to England in 1834 he 

 had practised more or less in translating and speaking 

 English ; but he knew very well, from his various 

 attempts, how difficult it was for him to make himself 

 understood among his English friends. Lyell had told 

 him that it was useless to lecture in America in the 

 French or German languages ; for those two languages 

 then were used in very narrow limits, and if he wished 

 to make an impression on the American public, he must 

 speak good English. 



During his long journey across the Atlantic, Agassiz 

 began in earnest, not only speaking English all the 

 time, but committing to memory English sentences and 

 repeating them aloud before any one who had the 

 patience to hear him. The captain of the steamer 

 said, " I have never had such a passenger as you, 

 Professor Agassiz " ; and like every one else, he was 

 charmed with the great Swiss naturalist. Here again 

 Agassiz's great memory helped him, although no longer 

 so elastic as it had been in his youth ; he soon knew a 



