298 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. xii. 



but true patrons of scientific researches, happy in the 

 opportunity to secure to America the services of such a 

 savant. There is no doubt that Agassiz's settlement 

 in America was due to the kind reception and many 

 acts of true friendship and admiration he received from 

 Mr. Lowell and Professor Bache. 



Before his first year in America was over, a most 

 intimate friend of his Swiss family, M. Charles Louis 

 Philippe Christinat, arrived at his house in East Boston. 

 Victim of a political revolution in the Canton de Vaud, 

 Christinat, for many years a minister in the village of 

 Montpreveyres, was obliged to leave his parish, and 

 after wandering as an exile in Italy and France, he 

 resolved to join his friend Agassiz, and finish his life 

 with him. He possessed the full confidence of Agassiz's 

 mother, and the family was very glad that such a trusty 

 friend was willing to help Agassiz by his advice and his 

 devotion to his person and interests ; for they all knew 

 how much Agassiz was influenced, and often not in the 

 right direction, by his secretary Desor. 



As soon as Christinat arrived, at the end of Septem- 

 ber, 1847, Agassiz, who remembered how devoted Chris- 

 tinat had always been to him since his childhood, going 

 so far as to supply his always empty pocket with money 

 in order that he might make his much-desired journey 

 to Paris, felt that he had at last near him a man whom 

 he could fully trust. It was a great relief to his mind. 

 His relations with Desor were no longer as friendly as 

 they had formerly been at Neuchatel. When they met 

 again in April, after an eight months' separation, Agassiz 

 saw at once a great change in Desor's manner, and more 



