1 847-49.] DESOR VERSUS DAVIS. 13 



to realize that, after all, he was only small change in 

 comparison with the splendid medal " fleur de coin " of 

 Louis Agassiz. His real value was quickly seen by Mr. 

 John A. Lowell, who did not hesitate to uphold Agassiz, 

 and never invited Desor to deliver a course of lectures 

 at his institute, notwithstanding the pressure brought to 

 bear on him by several friends of Desor, among them 

 the celebrated Unitarian minister, Theodore Parker. 



A few words more will dispose of Desor's doings 

 in America. After receiving more than hospitality on 

 board the Bibb, --lor Lieutenant Charles H. Davis gave 

 him pay as his secretary under the designation of mas- 

 ter's mate, - - Desor sued Commander Davis in Decem- 

 ber, 1851, before the Circuit Court of the United States 

 for the district of Massachusetts, for breach of contract 

 to write a memoir on the geological effects of the tidal 

 currents of the ocean. 1 The jury gave a verdict for 



1 In a letter to Desor, dated February, 1849, written after the award 

 between Desor and Agassiz, Davis said, " It appears from the award of 

 the arbitrators, which, as bound to do both by honor and judgment, I 

 fully accept that in every point in dispute you have done injustice to 

 M. Agassiz, and have misled those of your friends who were influenced 

 by your representations"; and in another letter, dated March, 1849, he 

 adds, " You speak of my condemning you unheard (it was M. Agassiz, if 

 any one, whom I condemned unheard). ... I have no wish to boast of 

 any favors I may have conferred upon you. Nevertheless, I must say that 

 the cordial and hospitable entertainment you received on board the Bibb 

 last summer and autumn and my active but, as it appears, unavailing efforts 

 to bring to a termination the unhealthy excitement under which your mind 

 has labored towards M. Agassiz, may well relieve me from any painful 

 sense of obligation to you." Finally, Admiral Davis wrote to Desor on 

 the 5th of March, 1849: "No one can regret more sincerely than I do 

 that a moral necessity, superior to all other considerations, has been cre- 

 ated by yourself, which annuls these agreements" (i.e. the investigation 

 of the subject of Ground Ice, the Natural Causes of Fogs on Shoals, and 

 some other scientific topics, besides the Tidal Currents). "Trial of Desur 

 versus Davis," pp. 62-67, Boston, 1852. 



