1832-35-] PROFESSORSHIP AT HEIDELBERG. 53 



audience of persons desirous to hear him on zoology, 

 botany, and the philosophy of nature. And when 

 the weather permitted, he used to take all his pupils, 

 young and old, on excursions into the field ; visiting, 

 among other places, the celebrated quarries of the 

 Neocomian at Hauterive, the summit of the Chaumont 

 Mountain, and the shores of the lake. It was a spec- 

 tacle worth seeing. One of those who enjoyed these 

 excursions said to me : " Agassiz was at his best, pass- 

 ing from a plant to a fossil ; from physical geography to 

 a fish, a snail, a bird, an insect, anything that came in 

 his way ; always ready to discourse for hours, and, as 

 usual, full of all sorts of new schemes. Time passed 

 only too quickly in his company." 



Everything then seemed to smile on him; it was a 

 sort of triumphal entry into life. A few days after his 

 installation at Neuchatel, he received, on the 4th of 

 December, 1832, a proposal to present himself, if he 

 wished, in place of Professor Leuckart, at the Univer- 

 sity of Heidelberg, which he declined to do. He con- 

 sulted Humboldt about the call from Heidelberg, in a 

 letter published by Mrs. Agassiz, Vol. I., pp. 213-217; 

 but as Mrs. Agassiz was unable to give Humboldt's 

 answer, I will give it in full in French, translated from 

 the German by Agassiz himself for his uncle Mayor. 



BERLIN, 29 decembre, 1832. 

 LETTRE D'ALEXANDRE DE HUMBOLDT A Louis AGASSIZ, 



Je n'ai point d'expression, mon cher Agassiz, pour vous temoigner 

 quel grand plaisir me procure chaque ligne que je re9ois de vous, 

 ainsi que les marques cTamitie que vous me donnez. Je ne puis 

 excuser le retard que j'ai mis a repondre a votre derniere lettre que 



