1836-37-] HIS FIRST VISIT AT BEX. 83 



time resorts were few, and there were none at all in 

 the centre of the Alps. At about the time of his mar- 

 riage, in 1833, de Charpentier had invited him to visit 

 him at his beautiful home "aux Devens," near Bex. De 

 Charpentier, the classmate, at the Freiberg School of 

 Mines, of Alexander von Humboldt and Leopold von 

 Buch, the author of the best geological description of 

 the Pyrenees then existing, had a European reputation 

 which brought to his house savants from every country ; 

 in addition, he enjoyed the reputation of a charming 

 and most hospitable companion, and was the possessor 

 of rich collections of natural history. De Charpentier 

 had married, in 1828, a young German lady of noble 

 family, Miss von Gablenz of Dresden ; and as Mrs. 

 Agassiz was not particularly fond of Swiss ladies, 

 Agassiz thought that an acquaintance with Mrs. de 

 Charpentier, a German lady of culture and refinement, 

 might be agreeable to his wife. 



It is a mistake to think that Agassiz was attracted to 

 Bex by a desire to study the glacial question. He was 

 adverse to the hypothesis, and did not believe in the 

 great extension of glaciers and their transportation of 

 boulders, but, on the contrary, was a partisan of Lyell's 

 theory of transport by icebergs and ice-cakes. His main 

 object was to pass an agreeable vacation with his 

 wife and child, at the foot of the Dent du Midi, and 

 near a family of savants as social and friendly as were 

 de Charpentier and wife. In all this he was not disap- 

 pointed ; but from being an adversary of the glacial 

 theory, he returned to Neuchatel an enthusiastic convert 

 to the views and observations of Venetz and de Char- 



