1831-32.] HE CHARMED HUMBOLDT. 41 



interrupt him once,- -certainly a great mark of admira- 

 tion on the part of Agassiz, who was himself a great 

 talker,- -and after three hours together, they separated 

 at the door of the Mazarine Library, charmed with 

 each other. 



To have pleased a man so sarcastic as Humboldt 

 was not a small triumph. He was conquered by the 

 juvenile enthusiasm, the extraordinary optimism, of 

 Agassiz. As one of the friends of Agassiz says, " Lui 

 (de Humboldt) qui etait si mordant de nature n'est 

 qu'affectueux et plein de sollicitude en ecrivant ou en 

 causant avec son jeune ami." 



In some way Humboldt learned through the pub- 

 lisher, Cotta of Stuttgart, the straitened circumstances 

 under which Agassiz was labouring, and therefore 

 simply enclosed in a letter a " billet de la Banque de 

 France ' for one. thousand francs, begging him to 

 accept it. Agassiz, in his letter of thanks, dated the 

 27th of March, 1832, calls Humboldt his " benefactor 

 and friend," and confesses that his kind and helpful 

 hand has unexpectedly rescued him from a distressing 

 position, and that now he is again in hope of devoting 

 his whole powers to science. Humboldt was then min- 

 ister plenipotentiary of Prussia to the court of the 

 Tuileries ; and his timely help won for him an admira- 

 tion which ended only with the last day of Agassiz's 

 life. As Agassiz himself says, " I was pleased to re- 

 main a debtor of Humboldt, for I have never returned 

 the sum he bestowed at such an opportune moment." 



Agassiz-like, as soon as he was recovered from his 

 despondency in regard to money, his buoyant spirit led 



