284 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. xn. 



Philadelphia, and Washington. He readily adapted 

 himself to American fare, except in one particular. 

 Born in a wine country, even the excellent beer of 

 Bavaria, during his long and numerous stays in Ger- 

 many, was never much relished by him ; and to be 

 reduced to ice water and tea was rather hard. However, 

 he was obliged often, too often for his inclination, to do 

 the best he could, contenting himself with an occasional 

 glass of claret, and a cup of black coffee, if obtain- 

 able, which was seldom the case. But as soon as he 

 possessed a home, he provided light red wine and black 

 coffee at luncheon and dinner, and adhered to this 

 custom until the last day of his life. He never drank 

 freely of strong wine, like the Spanish, Madeira, and 

 Portuguese wines, and was averse to liquors of any sorts, 

 excepting a small glass of " Chartreuse ' or very old 

 Cognac, when in company. Agassiz came to America 

 too late in life to change this part of his diet. 



At Princeton, Agassiz met, for the first time, Professor 

 Joseph Henry, an American savant, who became one 

 of his best friends and a constant admirer. Professor 

 Asa Gray of Cambridge was there also, at the house of 

 the then most celebrated botanist in the United States, 

 Professor Torrey ; and together Agassiz and Gray 

 started for Philadelphia and Washington. Agassiz 

 knew more of botany than was usual for a zoologist; 

 and Gray, then a young and rising botanist, was very 

 solicitous to please Agassiz. Their friendship grew 

 rapidly, until completely checked by the publication 

 of Darwin's " Origin of Species," in 1859. 



Philadelphia greatly attracted Agassiz. There he met 



