1841-42.] rORHES. 201 



N'ayant re9u aucune reponse aux deux dernicres lettres que j"ai 

 eu rhonneur de vous adresser et apres la reponse que vous avez faite 

 a ma precedente, en livrant au public des remarques qui n'allaient 

 qu'a votre adresse, je ne coii9ois pas quelle espece de relations per- 

 sonnelles vous pouvez rechercher avec moi. Celles que j'aurais pu 

 desirer, vous les avez rendues impossibles ; et je ne saurais accepter 

 les froides civilite's d'une personne en qui j 'avals vu un ami. Cela 

 ne m'empechera pas de rendre pleine et entiere justice a celles de 

 vos publications qui tiennent de loin ou de pres aux recherches 

 scientifiques que je poursuis. 



Agre'ez, Monsieur, etc., 



Louis AGASSIZ. 



It would have been wiser on the part of Agassiz and 

 more profitable if, after his ascent of the Jungfrau and 

 his two "sejours" at the "Hotel des Neuchatelois " in 

 1840 and 1841, he had let the glacial question take care 

 of itself. The impulse he had given was quite sufficient 

 to assure his reputation as one of the first and most 

 successful workers ; and his place, after Venetz and de 

 Charpentier, was recognized as undisputed by all those 

 who had studied glaciers and the glacial age. 



Frightened at the constant increase of expenses, his 

 Swiss and German families made remonstrances, and 

 were absolutely opposed to a new establishment at the 

 glacier of the Aar, to replace the " Hotel des Neucha- 

 telois," which had gone to pieces during the winter, 

 according to a report just received from the Grimsel. 

 Agassiz's best scientific friends, with Humboldt at their 

 head, hinted that, after all, his works on fishes furnished 

 his best claim to reputation and celebrity. In a previ- 

 ous letter, dated Berlin, i/th of June, 1838, Humboldt, 

 in a friendly way, had told him that he had never had 



