1839-40-] LETTER TO PICTET. 139 



pie of such impulse given to natural history anywhere, 

 even in such great scientific centres as Paris or London. 

 His generous spirit can be understood by reading the 

 following extract from a letter to his friend, Jules Pictet 

 de la Rive, dated Neuchatel, March 10, 1839:- 



Je suis egalement bien rcjoui de pouvoir vous montrer que 

 quoiqu'editeur force de mes publications, c'est uniquement le desir 

 d'etre utile qui me guide vis-a-vis de mes collegues qui desirent 

 acquerir mes ouvrages. Pour les Poissons fossiles, je vous les 

 cederai volontiers au tiers au-dessous du prix que les libraires y 

 mettent, c'est-a-dire a 24 francs la livraison, au lieu de 36, ce qui 

 est a pen pres le prix auquel elle me revient. Veuillez des lors me 

 faire savoir si je dois vous en adresser un exemplaire. Des que 

 j'aurai calcule exactement le cout des " Poissons d'eau douce," je 

 vous ferai savoir aussi qufelle remise je pourrai vous faire sur cet 

 ouvrage. II va sans dire que ce n ? est qu'aux savants, qui me de- 

 mandent mes livres pour eux-memes que je peux et que je veux 

 faire le sacrifice de toutes les peines que reclament des publications 

 de ce genre. 



Generosity in this case was certainly not well placed ; 

 for Pictet was a well-to-do man in a pecuniary posi- 

 tion far superior to Agassiz's, and might easily have 

 afforded to subscribe at the full price. But Agassiz 

 did not know how to discriminate between those who 

 deserved to be helped and those whose means were 

 such that a subscription to a costly work was not a 

 " sacrifice," but simply a scientific duty. 



About this time occurred, for the first time, a dis- 

 agreeable difficulty which confronted Agassiz more than 

 once during his life. Without asking permission, or even 

 making his intention known, he had begun a French and 

 a German translation of the " Mineral Conchology of 



